There was a slugfest at Coors Field on Saturday night, but the Colorado Rockies were, unfortunately, on the wrong end of the 9-7 decision against the Cincinnati Reds. Of the six home runs hit in the game, only one came off the bat of a Rockies hitter (Michael Cuddyer's seventh-inning shot). Colorado did threaten in the bottom of the ninth with men on second and third base and two outs, but pinch-hitter Andrew Brown struck out swinging on a 100 MPH Aroldis Chapman fastball to end the game.
Rockies rookie Christian Friedrich (5-8, 6.17 ERA) entered the game with 11 home runs allowed and exited the game after 4.1 innings with 14 home runs allowed this season. He allowed three of his seven earned runs on solo home runs, one each to Ryan Ludwick, Todd Frazier and Drew Stubbs. He allowed those three home runs over the second and third innings, erasing the Rockies' 3-0 lead that emerged after the first inning.
The Rockies scored three runs in the first inning on a two-run Carlos Gonzalez single and a Todd Helton sacrifice fly. Colorado temporarily took a 4-3 lead on a Michael Cuddyer double play in the fourth inning, but back-to-back RBI singles by the Reds in the top of the fifth inning drove Friedrich from the game. Josh Roenicke came in and allowed a Brandon Phillips two-run double. Roenicke served up a gopher ball to Scott Rolen in the sixth inning and Matt Belisle surrendered Ryan Ludwick's second home run of the game in the eighth. That completed the scoring for the Reds.
Johnny Cueto (13-5, 2.45 ERA) allowed five runs in six innings.
The Rockies (37-62, 20-31 home) will look to avoid yet another sweep when they complete this series at 1:10 p.m. MT. Jonathan Sanchez will face Mat Latos.
For updates, stay tuned to SB Nation Denver. For more in-depth coverage of this series, visit Rockies blog Purple Row and Reds blog Red Reporter. And for more news from around baseball, check out Baseball Nation and MLB Daily Dish.