The Colorado Rockies are at a loss for why they scuffle ag
The Colorado Rockies are at a loss for why they scuffle ag
DENVER (AP) —ainst teams with a losing record.It’s a trend they just can’t seem to shake — even when they’re rolling along. Eric Hosmer and Austin Hedges homered off Tyler Anderson and the San Diego Padres cooled off the Rockies with a 4-3 win on Tuesday night.Colorado is 23-24 against teams below .500 and 45-33 versus those at or above .500.“You’re reading too much into it Tim Tebow Jersey ,” Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta said. “This team is really good. We’ve been saying that all year. Their record isn’t indicative to the amount of talent they have.”Colorado arrived home after a 5-1 trip that included a four-game sweep of Atlanta.Still, this had potential trap game written all over it: Colorado’s streak of 46 straight contests against teams at or above .500 ended with a Padres squad that is hovering at the bottom of the NL. Over the stretch, the Rockies went 30-16 and climbed back into the thick of the NL West race.Asked before the game if he was concerned about a letdown, Rockies manager Bud Black simply responded: “No. No concern.”The Padres are 6-7 against the Rockies this season. Hedges had the big blow with a solo homer in the sixth, giving San Diego a 4-3 lead.Padres left-hander Robbie Erlin (3-3) allowed three runs over five innings. He made five scoreless relief appearances against the Rockies earlier this season.“I really like Robbie on the mound right now. He’s done a nice job,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “Thought we could’ve made a couple plays for him, probably would’ve made his day a little bit easier. Probably would’ve have kept some runs off the board for him as well. But he was efficient.”The pivotal moment was in the eighth when the first two Rockies hitters reached on singles. DJ LeMahieu bunted them over, and the Padres intentionally walked Nolan Arenado to load the bases.Craig Stammen then escaped the jam by striking out Trevor Story and getting Carlos Gonzalez to ground out to second baseman Christian Villanueva, who made a nifty sliding play.Black defended a decision that took an at-bat out of Arenado’s hands. The All-Star third baseman is hitting .309 with 30 homers and 87 RBIs.“Obviously, we took away Nolan’s at-bat … to get Trevor up there with the bases loaded and Cargo behind him,” Black said. “It didn’t work out for Trevor.”Kirby Yates pitched the ninth for his fifth save Jay Bruce Jersey , with Chris Iannetta flying out to deep left to end the game.Anderson (6-6) had pinpoint accuracy over 6 1/3 innings — 74 of his 99 pitches were strikes — except for two misplaced cutters. Hosmer hit one for a two-run shot in the first inning and Hedges added his 10th homer of the season.The left-handed Anderson has now surrendered 26 homers, which is tied for the most in the NL.“Anytime you throw a pitch that goes up the wall, you wish you had it back,” Anderson said.Iannetta took a foul tip off his right wrist while catching in the top of the fifth, but remained in the game. In the bottom half, he launched a solo homer to tie the game at 3.TRAINER’S ROOMPadres: LHP Eric Lauer (left forearm strain) is scheduled to throw about 65 pitches Friday for Triple-A El Paso. It will be his second rehab start since going on the DL on July 31.HOLLIDAY ROADEntering Tuesday, slugger Matt Holliday was hitting .347 with three homers in 14 games for Triple-A Albuquerque. He figures to be on the Rockies’ radar with rosters expanding on Sept. 1.“I want him to come up. I want him here,” Arenado said. “He was one of my favorite players growing up. … I know he can definitely be a help.”Holliday played the first five seasons of his 14-year career with the Rockies. He hit .290 as a rookie in 2004 and helped lead Colorado to its only World Series appearance in 2007.UP NEXTPadres RHP Jacob Nix (1-1, 6.75 ERA) will make his third career start and first against the Rockies on Wednesday. Colorado has won eight straight games with RHP Jon Gray (9-7, 4.76 ERA) taking the mound. BOSTON (AP) — So much for the Red Sox only beating up on baseball’s weaklings.After Yankees general manager Brian Cashman cast doubt on the quality of Boston’s record heading into their series at Fenway Park, the Red Sox swept four games from their AL East rivals to expand their lead in the division to a season-high 9 1/2 games.Noting that the Red Sox had been 4-5 against New York before the series Cashman said http://www.metsfanproshop.com/authentic ... bow-jersey , “You wonder what their record would be if they weren’t playing us.”The words made their way around the Boston clubhouse.“Yeah, we saw it,” outfielder Mookie Betts said. “We weren’t paying it any attention. We know what we are, we know what we can do and we went out and showed it.”J.D. Martinez singled in a pair of runs to key a ninth-inning rally and Andrew Benintendi drove in the game-winner in the 10th on Sunday night to help the Red Sox complete the sweep. After coming to Boston with hopes of closing the gap in the division, the Yankees left with a renewed focus on the wild-card race.“Everybody knew how big this series was,” Benintendi said. “We came in and did what we wanted to do. Kind of stole this one. Every win counts the same, but now again we have to re-shift our focus toward Toronto.”The Red Sox had the day off on Monday before opening a three-game series against the Blue Jays. That gave them a little extra time to enjoy their best-in-baseball record of 79-34 — 45 games above .500 (and just one game below .700) for the first time since Ted Williams returned from World War II to lead the 1946 team to a 104-50 record.The Yankees are stuck in a season-high five-game losing streak. It was just the seventh time they have been swept by the Red Sox in a series of four or more games in the last 100 seasons. (Of course, they also lost four straight in the 2004 AL Championship Series.)“A tough way to obviously end a tough weekend,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “But we can’t let this define what’s been a great season.”The Yankees were on the verge of snapping their skid on Sunday night before closer Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded in the ninth and then, with two out, J.D. Martinez singled in a pair of runs. Jackie Bradley Jr. scored from first on a throwing error by third baseman Miguel Andujar to send the game into extra innings.In the 10th David Wright Jersey , Benintendi bounced one up the middle to score Tony Renda, who came in as a pinch runner to make his major league debut, to win it.Boston improved to 7-3 in extra-inning games and has four walk-off wins in its last 13 games at Fenway. The Red Sox have a best-in-baseball 11 sweeps this season while not getting swept themselves at all.They are 8-5 against the Yankees, putting to rest any doubts Cashman might have had when he said: “You wonder what their record would be if they weren’t playing us. Because when we go head to head, we do some damage against them and it doesn’t seem like anybody else is capable.”Asked about the comments before the series, Red Sox manager Alex Cora avoided adding to the controversy.“Don’t lead me into that one,” he said. “He also said that he would love to be in our position, that he respects the way we’re playing. I leave it at that.”