Rockies offense, bullpen falters in rout by Royals

The final line won’t show it, but Tanner Gordon nearly worked a storybook outing in his MLB debut. There was no sugarcoating a dismal day for the Colorado Rockies offense and bullpen, however.

Brady Singer quieted the Colorado bats, and the Kansas City Royals avoided a weekend sweep Sunday afternoon at Coors Field with a 10-1 victory in front of 32,180.

Gordon pounded the strike zone, which helped him work efficiently but may have also cost him a quality start. The 26-year-old’s final line: Five runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. His performance was a reminder of the thin margins that come with pitching at this ballpark.

Kansas City did all the damage necessary in the second inning. Gordon allowed back-to-back-to-back singles, only one of which was hit particularly hard to yield the first run.

The big moment came on a 1-2 pitch to Maikel Garcia. Gordon threw Garcia a changeup at the bottom of the strike zone, but the Royals third baseman put it off the top of the fence and into the left-field seats for a three-run homer and a 4-0 advantage.

Beyond the second inning, Gordon was nearly flawless until the seventh. There were a few hard-hit balls right at Rockies defenders, but Gordon yielded only two singles — an infield hit and a weak-contact blooper to right field over the next four frames.

Gordon went back out for the seventh, but an MJ Melendez solo homer to right field and a bunt single ended his day with one out.

He finished with four strikeouts and no walks, tossing just 16 balls among his 78 pitches. Gordon faced just one three-ball count, and Melendez hit the next pitch out.

Singer, a first-round pick by Kansas City in the 2018 draft in the midst of his best season with the Royals, cruised through six innings before also running out of gas in the seventh.

Nolan Jones singled home Jake Cave to break up the shoutout, but Aaron Schunk’s long fly ball to left field with two runners on landed in Melendez’ glove just short of the wall. Singer’s final line was one run allowed on six hits in 6 2/3 innings.

Colorado put two runners on twice early in the game but Singer worked out of it. One of those rallies died with back-to-back strikeouts for Charlie Blackmon and Ezequiel Tovar. It was another long day at the plate for Tovar, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He finished the homestand hitless in 24 at-bats with 11 strikeouts.

Once the potential rally in the seventh was thwarted, the Royals blew it open against the beleaguered Rockies bullpen. Bobby Witt Jr. provided an exclamation point with a three-run homer to left in the ninth.

The Rockies added Gordon to the 40-man roster Sunday and designated Dakota Hudson for assignment after the offseason signing was 2-12 with a 5.84 ERA in 17 starts. Gordon was 2-3 with a 6.15 ERA in seven starts for Albuquerque (AAA) before the call up.

Colorado acquired Gordon, along with reliever Victor Vodnik, from Atlanta for pitcher Pierce Johnson last July. Gordon was a sixth-round pick from Indiana in 2019.

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