Rockies 'punished' by another late error

DENVER -- For the second consecutive game, the Rockies were done in by defense, particularly poor infield defense.

A day after a Ryan McMahon error opened the floodgates for the Cardinals in a 9-6 comeback victory over Colorado, a lapse in the field by first baseman C.J. Cron led to the deciding blow in the 7-4 Rockies’ loss Wednesday at Coors Field, concluding the club’s first homestand of 2023.

Reliever Justin Lawrence, who has been outstanding early in ‘23 and entered Wednesday's contest with a 1.42 ERA in five appearances, quickly got the first two outs in the top of the eighth with the score tied 4-4 -- striking out National League MVP Paul Goldschmidt and forcing NL MVP finalist Nolan Arenado to ground out.

But the next batter, catcher Willson Contreras, hit a ground ball toward second base that Cron -- who was playing Contreras to pull -- initially went after before making a U-turn to cover the bag. McMahon fielded the ball and threw to the retreating Cron, but Cron’s foot missed the bag as Contreras crossed safely.

That kept the frame open for Nolan Gorman, who promptly belted an opposite-field, two-run homer to put St. Louis ahead, 6-4.

“It was kind of a misread on my part,” Cron said. “I should’ve let Lawrence cover the bag. But I took the step toward the ground ball, so … Yeah, just something to learn from. [Unfortunately,] they capitalized on it.”

Infield defense has traditionally been a strong suit for the Rockies, who have made a concerted effort to keep the ball on the ground in the mile-high air, necessitating plus defenders to vacuum up everything within reach.

However, the past couple of seasons, that infield defense has become uncharacteristically porous. Coming into the 2023 campaign, manager Bud Black emphasized the need for his club’s infield to return to its once impenetrable ways. But while it’s still very early, the early returns haven’t been great.

“Physical errors, I mean, they happen, right? It’s the human part of this game,” Black said. “Cron was potentially a little over-aggressive on that ball, and then he got his feet tangled up. It’s part of what happens in competition. You don’t like to see it happen, but it does. We have to absorb that, when it happens, on the mound.”

Black has a point. McMahon and Cron are not bad defenders, yet it was their miscues that enabled St. Louis to land decisive blows in back-to-back games. Errors happen -- they’re inevitable. That’s not to say that the Rockies played stellar defense in 2022 and so far in ’23, but defensive blemishes shouldn’t obscure pitching problems.

After McMahon’s error in the seventh inning on Tuesday loaded the bases for Goldschmidt, reliever Dinelson Lamet came in and promptly issued a five-pitch walk to force in a run before surrendering a game-tying double by Arenado. And on Wednesday, Lawrence left a fastball over the heart of the plate for Gorman to drive over the left-field wall.

Still, the tension between “things happen” and “you can’t let them happen” that is found in the McMahon and Cron errors doesn't change the fact that the Rockies are now 5-8, instead of potentially 7-6.

Incidentally, the play right before the Cron error Wednesday perhaps gave the Rockies a hopeful glimpse of their infield’s future. We’ve known that rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar is a slick fielder, but he’s rarely gotten a chance early this season to put his defensive skills on display.

When Arenado hit a ground ball in the six-hole in the top of the eighth, Tovar made a tremendous backhand grab on a slide and threw to first to get the out -- with a little help from a Cron tag on a wide throw.

It was poetic that the man victimized by the brilliant play was Arenado, arguably the greatest defensive player in Rockies history. It was, in a single play, almost a passing of the torch to the next generation of elite Rockies infield defenders.

But the Rockies could savor the moment for mere seconds. On the very next pitch, Contreras hit the ground ball on which the game turned. So it goes for a franchise trying to author a new chapter it hopes will lead to success with young players like Tovar at the center of it.

Lately, it seems like it’s one step forward and two steps back for the Rockies. Or, in Cron’s case, one step short.

“It seems like every little mistake is getting punished,” Cron said. “That’s just how it is right now, I guess.”