Colorado experienced another chapter of the Strange Case of Dr. Gomber and Mr. Hyde.
After a prolific May in which Austin Gomber produced four quality starts with a microscopic 0.68 ERA, the southpaw’s June swoon continued as he was hit hard in Wednesday’s series finale in Minnesota.
This time, the Hyde version of Gomber was tagged for eight runs on 11 hits through three-plus innings in a 17-9 loss to the Twins. His poor start was compounded by a bullpen meltdown that led to the most runs allowed by the Rockies this year, topping their Opening Day-disaster in Arizona.
Gomber’s first innings remain a major bugaboo. His ERA in the opening frame entering Wednesday was 9.75, compared to 1.98 in all other innings. That trend held true, as the Twins tagged a variety of Gomber’s off-speed pitches for five runs in the first.
“It looked at though they were sitting on the curveball and the change,” Rockies manager Bud Black told Rockies TV. “And unfortunately for Gomber, in the first, those pitches were up. … The curveball, change and there were a couple sliders in there that weren’t knees and below. They were thigh and above.”
The Twins’ hot start erased Ezequiel Tovar’s sacrifice fly in the top of the inning that gave Colorado an early lead and handed Minnesota the momentum as the Twins won the three-game series at Target Field.
Byron Buxton, Carlos Santana and Kyle Farmer all had RBIs in the first. Then the Twins did more damage off Gomber in the fourth as the pitcher failed to record an out. Willi Castro led off with a homer, followed by back-to-back doubles by Christian Vázquez and Manuel Margot to chase Gomber from the game.
Anthony Molina then came on and immediately surrendered an RBI single to Carlos Correa, running Gomber’s earned run total up in the inning to three and giving Minnesota an 8-2 lead. The outburst negated a solo homer by Ryan McMahon in the top of the frame.
In the sixth, the Twins canceled another Rockies’ run after Jacob Stallings’ RBI groundout scored Tovar. Royce Lewis’ two-run homer off Angel Chivilli pushed the score to 10-3.
Colorado got a pair of runs back in the seventh via Brenton Doyle’s two-RBI single off Steven Okert before the game went into a 25-minute rain delay.
After the game resumed, the Rockies offense found more life, scoring three runs in the eighth to make it 10-8. Two of those came off a Correa error, then Colorado got another Adael Amador’s double-play groundout. The visitors were suddenly back in it.
“We were one base hit, or a ball in the gap, away (from tying the game),” Black said.
But the Twins responded with a seven-run eighth in which they torched the combination of Nick Mears and Josh Rogers to effectively end Colorado’s road trip on a sour note.
“We were hoping that Nick Mears, who has been one of our (best bullpen) guys, could throw up a zero there when we were down two to give us a chance in the ninth,” Black said. “Things went awry, and Josh Rogers got some pitches up, too. … It was a drastic turn of events which didn’t go our way.”
The Twins finished with a season-high 24 hits — also a season-high for Colorado’s pitchers — including Correa’s first career five-hit game. Everyone in Minnesota’s starting lineup but Bruxton finished with at least two hits and an RBI, and it was only the second game since 1961 that every Twins starter had at least one RBI.
The Rockies are off on Thursday following 13 consecutive days of games. They return to Coors Field on Friday for a seven-game homestand against the Pirates and Dodgers.
Pitching probables
Friday: Pirates TBA at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-5, 5.74), 6:40 p.m.
Saturday: Pirates RHP Jared Jones (4-5, 3.27) at Rockies LHP Ty Blach (2-4, 4.84), 7:10 p.m.
Sunday: Pirates RHP Paul Skenes (3-0, 2.43) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (2-8, 4.87), 1:10 p.m.
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