Even in a hitter’s paradise can offense run dry. The Oakland A’s set up and couldn’t cash in on a few scoring opportunities in an attempt to get the series sweep, losing to the Colorado Rockies, 3-1, on Sunday at Coors Field in Denver. They finish the road trip with a 4-2 record.
A’s pitchers this series have struggled to keep stay winded and keep their breaking pitches down in unfamiliar Coors. Without his best stuff, James Kaprielian gutted through five innings while allowing just two runs with six strikeouts and three walks.
Things could have gotten out of hand for Kaprielian in the fourth inning. The Rockies loaded the bases with no outs, and Kaprielian succumbed only to a run scored sacrifice fly, escaping the inning on a strikeout and fly out by the Rockies pitcher German Marquez.
The A’s had ample opportunity to score, but their only run came via Sean Murphy’s RBI double in the sixth, scoring Tony Kemp, who had doubled to lead off the inning. An Elvis Andrus single and Mitch Moreland reaching on an error put runners on the corners in the seventh inning. But Rockies reliever Mychal Givens recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
A Chad Pinder double play ended a scoring threat in the eighth inning with runners on the corners.
Yusmeiro Petit allowed the Rockies an insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly, but like Kaprielian didn’t let the inning cascade when he loaded the bases with no outs.
