DENVER _ This time, there was no comeback in the offing. After six consecutive come-from-behind wins, the Pirates fell behind the Colorado Rockies in the third inning Saturday night and stayed behind, losing, 7-3, at Coors Field.
There was fight in the Pirates, but much was verbal in nature, as the benches and bullpens cleared in the sixth after right-hander Chad Kuhl fired a 96-mph fastball inside on the Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez. The ball evaded Gonzalez. The intent did not. The previous inning, right-hander German Marquez struck Andrew McCutchen near his left shoulder with a 94-mph fastball.
There were no ejections issued, only warnings.
The explanation for the quick tempers may stretch back as June 14 when Marquez hit Francisco Cervelli in a game at PNC Park. The Pirates have been hit by pitch 56 times this season, most in the Major Leagues.
The Pirates (49-49) fell one game short of tying the club record of seven consecutive come-from-behind wins, set May 22-29, 1965. Their winning streak halted at six games. They are now 12-6 in July.
The Brewers snapped a six-game losing streak Saturday with a 9-8 win over the Philadelphia Phillies, so the Pirates are three games out of first place.
One night after tying a season-high with 18 hits, the Pirates managed just six Saturday. Marquez allowed three hits and two runs in seven innings, striking out nine. On the other side, Kuhl (4-7) was hit hard but kept his balance. He was charged with four runs in six innings, walking one and striking out four.
From May 24 to Saturday, McCutchen led the majors in on-base percentage (.483), was second in batting average (.385) and third in OPS (1.139). He started the scoring in the first inning Saturday by slicing a first-pitch fastball to center field for a run-scoring double, his 57th RBI this season.
Kuhl's start could not have been cooler, as he turned in a nine-pitch first inning and worked around a solitary walk in the second.
In the third, German Marquez, the Colorado pitcher, roped a line-drive single over Kuhl's head for the Rockies' first hit. After that, they were all over Kuhl. Charlie Blackmon doubled. DJ LeMahieu struck a sacrifice fly. Nolan Arenado dropped an RBI double down the right-field line, and Mark Reynolds hit an RBI single past a diving Josh Harrison to push the Rockies' advantage to 3-1.
Josh Bell chopped the deficit in half with a solo shot to right field, his 18th home run this season. Bell, who had four hits in the series opener Friday, is batting .248 and leads all National League rookies in hits (83) and walks (38).
The Rockies earned the run back when Trevor Story knocked in Gonzalez, who had doubled, in the fourth. Manager Clint Hurdle stuck with Kuhl, and the score steadied. There was help in the fifth when McCutchen picked up Ian Desmond's double at the wall in center, near the '415 feet' marker, and began a relay _ McCutchen to Harrison to Cervelli _ to nab Arenado at home plate.
McCutchen saved another run in the sixth when, three batters after Gonzalez incited the benches-clearing kerfuffle and then singled, McCutchen made a leaping catch at the wall in right-center field to snare a long fly ball by Marquez.
The Rockies scored their fifth run in the seventh against reliever A.J. Schugel, and their sixth and seventh runs came off left-hander Steven Brault in the eighth. Brault was recalled from Class AAA Indianapolis earlier in the day.
The Pirates mounted rallies in the final innings. In the eighth, Harrison bounced into a double play, and Josh Bell flied out against closer Greg Holland with runners on the corners. In the ninth, they loaded the bases with one out. Starling Marte hit an RBI infield single with two outs, but that was the only damage done in their late comeback effort.
