Rockies want to 'finish strong' after another close loss

MILWAUKEE -- Not long before Wednesday afternoon’s game ended, Rockies rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar stood stoic, yet triumphant, at second base, having delivered the key hit in the top of the 10th.

Not much later, Tovar dropped disappointedly to his back on the infield dirt, lamenting his 10th-inning throwing error that permitted the run that gave the Brewers a 7-6 victory at American Family Field.

The miscue, which tipped the three-game series the Brewers’ way, was rare for Tovar, 22, who entered the day fifth among shortstops in the Majors with nine defensive runs saved while leaving the Rockies with little worry at the key defensive infield position.

Tovar didn’t stay down long -- not on the ground and not in his spirit. He rarely lets any emotion linger.

“It’s a routine play,” Tovar said, with bullpen catcher Aaron Muñoz interpreting. “Obviously, I didn’t want to make that throw. Bad luck happened, and it got away from me. It was a tied ballgame. Everyone wanted to win.”

And, besides, the way the Rockies’ season is going, the next nail-biting finish for Tovar and the Rockies will come soon enough.

Since July 4, the increasingly youthful Rockies are 11-16 -- an improvement over the pace that has left them with a 45-69 record. In this stretch of competitive ball, 12 of the 16 losses and seven of the 11 victories have been by three or fewer runs. Over the season, the Rockies are 18-14 in one-run games.

As has become customary, four of the starting position players Wednesday were rookies.

“Everyone here wants that experience,” Tovar said. “Everyone wants to grow and continue to play. It’s part of it. That's the beauty of this game -- we get better as time goes, and we're happy to be part of that.”

There’s a reason for all the close games.

“We aren’t scoring enough runs to give us any room to breathe,” manager Bud Black said.

Jurickson Profar’s fourth-inning leadoff homer began a four-run Rockies frame. However, starting pitcher Chris Flexen gave up three runs in a fourth inning that included Tyron Taylor’s two-run double, and yielded consecutive homers to Willy Adames and Andruw Monasterio to lose the lead. Profar tied it with an infield hit in the seventh.

The Rockies took an odd route to the lead in the 10th. Austin Wynns bunted designated runner Cole Tucker to third, but he was thrown out at the plate when Profar’s bouncer went straight to first baseman Carlos Santana. But Tovar laced a double off Bryse Wilson, and left fielder Mark Canha misplayed the ball to allow Profar to score from first.

“My goal was to pass the torch, just get on base and get [Ryan] McMahon up -- he’s been our leader offensively,” Tovar said. “But luckily, I hit the ball in the gap and it worked out the way it did.”

Canha, who felt the low of the error, tied it with a double off Justin Lawrence, and scored on Tovar’s two-out throw.

“That’s baseball, right? Any little bounce here and there,” Canha said. “The way that ball bounced off the wall to me, it bounced not in the direction I expected it to and I had to kind of check myself. I was like, 'Man, that was a weird bounce off the wall.'

“But I went up there with confidence in myself that next at-bat. I said, ‘Move on. Let’s win this game now.’”

Tovar’s fateful throw hit the dirt well in front of rookie first baseman Michael Toglia, who had the ball glance off his forearm.

“I’d say 98 percent of the time I pick that,” Toglia said. “Make that 99 percent.”

The Rockies are 3-3 on a road trip that concludes with four games at Dodger Stadium starting Thursday. No use staying down, not with 7 1/2 weeks of games -- a good number of which will be close if the pattern holds.

“The biggest thing is everyone up here is ready to go,” Tovar said. “Regardless what month it is, everyone wants to finish strong.”