Front page – Kuhl, Kuhl, Kuhl:
Chad Cool gave up a three-hit streak at the start of his season debut last week, allowing three runs in the opening frame and then another in the second frame before going 3 scoreless and batting 10. I finished the competition solidly. In Tampa Bay he lost 10-6 to the Rays and in the end he went down 11.
“He competed, fought back, and kept us in the game. So I thought he did well.
Cool signed as a free agent in February and slipped into the starting rotation in the aftermath of Cade Cavalli’s season-ending elbow injury.
He chalked up his early struggles against the Rays, down to pitch selection and poor execution.
“It really came down to my poor pitch selection and poor pitch execution,” Cool said. Words by Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com.
“After that,” he added.
After five seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, who pitched for the Colorado Rockies in 2022 and was a first No. 2 in 2023 at the age of 30, and drafted Cool in the ninth round of 2013, the right-hander returned to Coors Field, where he finished three gave up on one run 2⁄3 Working with a 2-1 lead after the top of the first inning, Elias Diaz’s home run tied things up at 2-2 and the Nationals went 3-2 in the top of the fifth before going home. The team hit another HR, with Jurickson Profar taking Kuhl deep to tie it 3-3.
Skipper Davey Martinez for the Nats sent Cool back in the sixth inning with a 6–3 lead on 80 pitches, with runners on second and third after nine balls, a base and a double.
By the end of the inning, the Rockies were up 7-6, a score to win the series finale.
There were 11 walks between the two teams, three of which came with the bases loaded, including the eventual winning run, and a bases-loaded wild pitch.
There was also a hit-and-run that Nationals’ Victor Robles nailed perfectly.
Hobie Harris gave up the last bases-loaded walk. Erasmo Ramirez came out of the bullpen first to replace Cool and allow the inherited runners to score, giving up two more in a right-handed roughout, ending with a hit-by-pitch and loading the bases with two outs. innings.
“We’ve been talking about this here for a long time,” Martinez said after losing the final game of the series.
“We need to score as many goals as possible. Anything can happen. Look, we fought. It was a tough day. I thought Cool threw the ball well. We need to make the pitch.” Certain situations — like I said here, sometimes those curveballs don’t break the way you want them to and end up in the zone, but we fought. I thought, our defense worked, I think Harris did a good job.
“I know he brought in the first player. He was put in a tough situation, but then he calmed down and gave us two more innings, which was great.”
Martinez said he wouldn’t have sent Cool sixth on 80 pitches if his bullpen was at full power.
“Probably not. Yeah. But we felt we could get over him there,” he told reporters.
However, Martinez added, “I thought he kept us in the game and threw the ball well.”
And Ramirez’s outing? what went wrong?
Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
“Above all else is the location,” Martinez said. “Once he hits [Kris Bryant]you know, here are some people [in Coors Field], which annoys them a little bit, and I think he threw some good pitches, and he threw a ball that he kind of hung. Get out of here, split the series, get out of here, head to Anaheim, but you have to keep playing hard. We played with a lot of energy during these four days. It was great, so I had to keep going. Starting pitchers keep us in the ball game, so that’s a good thing.
BACK PAGE – The latest from Luis Garcia:
When asked for an update on the 22-year-old second baseman who twisted his hamstring in the second of four games against the Rockies on Friday, Davey Martinez said, “He’s doing better. He’s doing better.” ‘ said.
“He’s going to come out today and do a little bit of agility,” added the manager.
“Hopefully he’ll be able to pinch hitter today, and if he’s doing well today, we’ll try to get him in there tomorrow.”
Unwritten Rules – Coors Field Edition
After coming dangerously close to blowing a five-point lead as the Rockies rallied to score four in the ninth inning Saturday night in the Rockies’ 7-6 win over Washington, the National Skipper Davey Martinez was asked by a reporter if it was a perfect example. Why not stop play or assume the lead is safe, especially at Coors Field.
The reporter framed the question, noting how Colorado manager Bud Black responded to the question that Lane Thomas was trying to steal second base (Licked and thrown out) leading 10-5 on Friday night.
As the reporter explained, Black said in the spirit of the standard, “It’s Coors Field. Nothing is safe.” I was.
“You see, for sure yesterday he ran on his own. He was spoken to,” Martinez said.
“I’m from old school, just like Buddy, but this is still Coors Field. We need to try to get five runs in an innings and it really matters here.We did a good job with that tonight.I’m proud to have them out again today.They swung the bat and played tenaciously. , played good defense and had a chance to win the series tomorrow.”
