DENVER _ It wasn't Coors Field that did in Wei-Yin Chen.
Not entirely.
While Chen gave up a towering home run to Nolan Arenado in a six-run Rockies outburst in the fourth, it was a series of Marlins misadventures (including one of his own) and small-ball baseball that led to Chen's undoing and an eventual 11-3 Colorado win.
There was a Starlin Castro error. There was a Chen wild pitch. And then there was a perfectly executed safety squeeze bunt by Rockies starter Jon Gray. It all added up to a disaster of an inning for Chen and the Marlins, who opened their series with Colorado by losing their third straight.
Chen (2-4) gave up seven runs on nine hits over four innings and saw his ERA balloon to 6.70. He'll be receiving a scheduled $8 million payout on June 30, a deferred signing bonus that was included in the five-year $80 million deal that he signed before the 2016 season.
Money aside, Chen has had good moments and bad this season. Friday's fell among the latter.
After Derek Dietrich homered to tie the score in the third, the Rockies went to work on Chen in the fourth.
The Rockies scored the first of their runs in the fourth when Starlin Castro couldn't come up with Miguel Rojas' throw back to second to get Carlos Gonzalez. The ball rolled onto the outfield grass, and Ian Desmond scored from third.
After Noel Cuevas reached on an infield hit to put runners on the corners, Gray dropped down a bunt that scored the second run of the inning. A wild pitch by Chen preceded a RBI sacrifice fly by DJ LeMahieu and RBI single by Charlie Blackmon.
Arenado applied the finishing touch with a two-run homer.
The Rockies padded their lead with three runs in the seventh off Elieser Hernandez, who could slide into a rotation spot next week when injured starter Jose Urena's turn comes up next.
