The Colorado Rockies are in a bad place. A real bad place. They are on their second five-game losing streak in May and are just 4-15 this month. Monday night's road contest against the Miami Marlins began with a bang with the emergence of a 4-0 lead after the first inning. A few innings later, however, Giancarlo Stanton unloaded a grand slam that broke the scoreboard at Marlins Park and put Miami in a 6-4 lead. The Rockies didn't even have a hit after the first inning until a Jordan Pacheco single in the eighth inning broke up the monotony.
If the Rockies' offense can emerge from this funk, Juan Nicasio (2-1, 4.37 ERA) will need to be more efficient than he was in his last outing. On Thursday, Nicasio allowed just one run on two hits and struck out seven, but he walked five and needed 106 pitches to get through 4.2 innings. Eventually, the two bullpens went back-and-forth and the Arizona Diamondbacks emerged with the 9-7 victory. One start earlier, Nicasio pitched seven innings of one-run ball while striking out nine.
The Marlins counter with Ricky Nolasco (4-2, 4.10 ERA). If he can pick up the victory, Nolasco will have his 69th career win and become the all-time wins leader in Marlins history. However, he has lost his last two games, failing to escape past the fifth inning in one and leaving after the fourth in the other. He gave up 10 runs in 8.2 innings.
Game time/date: 5:10 p.m. MT, Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Location: Marlins Park, Miami, FL
TV: ROOT Sports/850 KOA
For more on these teams, visit Rockies blog Purple Row and Marlins blog Fish Stripes. Head over to Baseball Nation and MLB Daily Dish for more news and notes around the majors.