Rockies pratfall in series-opening loss to Giants by blowing three-run lead in 9th

If you are shocked by the Rockies latest way to lose you re apparently living under a rock Colorado held a - lead over the Giants going into the ninth in the series opener on Tuesday at Coors Field Up to that point they had timely hitting got a decent start from Carson Palmquist and the bullpen had been flawless Then came the punch line as the Rockies remain on pace to be the worst gang in modern baseball history Closer Zach Agnos imploded in the final inning and fellow reliever Victor Vodnik couldn t clean up his mess as San Francisco plated four runs to hand Colorado a - defeat The LoDo crowd was well pretty happy considering a large contingent of the on hand were San Francisco fans The defeat dropped Colorado to - as the Rockies remain on cruise control to surpass the White Sox s modern record of losses and blew a chance for a marquee win over National League West contender San Francisco in the process The tournament began inauspiciously for Palmquist when Giants leadoff man Jung Hoo Lee roped a triple off the Bridich Barrier in right-center field Wilmer Flores RBI single proceeded to make it - But the Rockies struck back in the second when Brenton Doyle s double was followed up by a two-out RBI single by rookie shortstop Ryan Ritter to tie the encounter Palmquist settled in after the opening inning posting three straight zeros as the Rockies took their first lead in the fourth off Ryan McMahon s leadoff homer The -foot blast to left-center off an elevated Kyle Harrison fastball made it - But the Giants tied the competition and chased Palmquist in the next inning Willy Adames led off the fifth with a -foot homer to center field and after Palmquist walked the next batter manager Warren Schaeffer lifted the southpaw in favor of right-hander Jake Bird Bird extended his career-high scoreless streak to outings with another dominant performance He struck out three straight Giants in the fifth to leave a man aboard then set San Francisco down in order in the sixth with two more Ks That gave Bird career Ks extended his NL reliever-best season strikeouts to and lowered his home ERA to a dazzling in games in LoDo this season Related Articles Renck vs Keeler Who is Rockies All-Star Or more aptly their Falling Star Mets hit six homers as overmatched Rockies tumble to - record Failure in the clutch Rockies lose to Mets as record slides to - Rockies Journal Bullish on the bullpen despite Colorado s awful record Rockies lose heartbreaker to Mets in the ninth inning on Francisco s Lindor s clutch double In-between Birdman s dominance the Rockies re-took the lead off another homer this time a solo shot by Kyle Farmer in the fifth Farmer s -foot homer pulled down the left-field line came on Harrison s dead-red slurve After Bird Seth Halvorsen kept the momentum with the Rockies by retiring San Francisco in order in the seventh Tyler Kinley kept the train rolling with a one-two-three eighth But after a pair of triples by Hunter Goodman and Doyle led to two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning in the ninth Agnos was erratic The rookie was ambushed by first-pitch homer by leadoff Casey Schmitt then walked three guys to load the bases with one out Vodnik came on to bail him out but couldn t He yielded a sacrifice fly before Wilmer Flores two-out swinging bunt tied the match and then Mike Yastrzemski singled to give the Giants the lead In the bottom of the ninth Orlando Arcia led off with a single but then the Giants turned a double play on a grounder by Jordan Beck Sam Hilliard walked and then Goodman s bloop single advanced him to third but Camilo Doval got Thairo Estrada to fly out to end the encounter Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis