Grit Index: Diamondbacks leave 11 men on base in loss to Rockies

The Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies combined to leave 19 men on base Friday at Chase Field, but the five who crossed home plate wearing purple in the seventh inning weren’t among the stranded.

From start to finish, the three hour, 39-minute affair was chocked full of missed opportunities.

After allowing a pair of two-out hits in the first inning, Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon McCarthy’s Friday the 13th fortunes turned bad, as a low line drive off the bat of Rockies catcher Wilin Rosario eluded the glove of a diving Adam Eaton, scoring two.

But that would be all the scoring McCarthy would surrender, despite giving up eight hits in innings 2-6.

In all, 10 of the 11 hits off the right-hander came with two outs.

Offensively, it was, again, too little, too late for the Diamondbacks, who scored three of their five runs on a three-run home run off the bat of Miguel Montero in the bottom of the 9th.

Despite driving Tyler Chatwood from the game in the game in their half of the 5th, the Diamondbacks were unable to capitalize on a bases loaded opportunity as Didi Gregorius grounded out to second base with the score tied 2-2. The following inning, the squandering persisted when Tony Campana led off with a pinch hit infield single and then stole second and third base, where he would remain at inning’s end.

The Rockies’ damage came against their former teammate, Will Harris, who took the second loss of his career Friday. Harris took the mound with a 0.82 ERA over his previous 10 outings and a 1.92 ERA over his previous 20 outings, but he was touched up for four runs in the seventh, managing just one out against the top half of the Rockies order.

Tony Sipp allowed the other Rockies run in the 7th inning.

Ultimately, the story wasn’t the bullpen, though. At least not for Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson. It was the lack of offense.

“What did they walk us six times?” he asked the media after the game.

“Yeah — and with all the hits we had, we should have had a lot more runs.”

The Good:

Brandon McCarthy has a 2.10 ERA over his last four starts, allowing seven runs over 30.0 innings pitched.

The Bad:

The Diamondbacks left 11 men on base Friday, going 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position, while one of their two hits with runners on second or third didn’t even plate a run.

He Said It:

“He’s really dangerous with the ball in his hand. He’s so accurate. Earlier in his career, when he tried to do that, the ball would get away from him. But now he knows where it’s going and he’s got an electric arm.” Kirk Gibson on Gerardo Parra’s major-league leading 16th outfield assist, which came in the seventh inning, when the rightfielder gunned down the Rockies’ Charlie Blackmon at second base

Up Next:

The Diamondbacks look to even the series tomorrow as Wade Miley (9-10, 3.73 ERA) takes the ball. The southpaw has allowed only one run in 12.1 IP versus the Rockies this year. Opposing him will be the struggling, winless veteran Roy Oswalt (0-5, 8.57 ERA). First pitch will be at 5:10 p.m. MDT and can be heard on Arizona Sports 620 AM.

Sal Musto contributed to this story.