Rox lumber extends slumber with Cease on his game

DENVER -- The massive scoreboard at Coors Field posts all kinds of numbers, none of which lie and most of which aren’t kind to the Rockies.

Second baseman Brendan Rodgers maintains faith they’re going to change.

• Tovar finds success atop Rockies' lineup

“I’m really just trying to stay focused and stay positive, but you know it’s really easy to get down on yourself, looking up and seeing certain numbers,” Rodgers said after the Rockies’ 3-1 loss to the Padres on Monday night. “But in my eyes, we have [almost] 140 games left. That’s a lot of baseball, a lot of at-bats.

“I think, just keep grinding them out as a team and as an individual and good things are going to come.”

Monday continued a startling pattern of those at-bats being empty for a Rockies team whose worst start in club history now measures 5-18. Yes, star pitching, which always seems to take its turn against the Rockies, is part of the story. On Monday, Padres right-hander Dylan Cease held the Rockies to one run on one hit and struck out eight in seven innings.

With the quiet bats being a major culprit, the Rockies have become the first team since the 1931 Reds to trail at some point in each of its first 23 games to begin a season.

Lefty Austin Gomber toughed out five innings and left with the game tied, 1-1. The Rockies got credible relief pitching (especially Victor Vodnik’s two innings with two strikeouts). The defense, with Rodgers making a diving stop and glove flip to start a double play in the eighth and Sean Bouchard diving for a ninth-inning catch, made big plays late.

But if the Rockies taking advantage of such chances requires better offense, although the Rockies were at least in position to flip the result. Bouchard doubled to open the ninth and Ezequiel Tovar singled with one out, but Ryan McMahon smoked a Robert Suarez pitch 108.8 mph off the bat to shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who began a game-ending double play.

The Rockies dropped to 1-4 in two-run games, and they are 1-5 in one-run games. And any runs are hard to come by -- even at Coors Field. With the one-run effort Monday, the Rockies have been held to 10 runs in their past six home games. At no previous point since the park opened in 1995 had the Rockies been held to fewer than 13 runs in any six-game stretch.

Speaking of stretches, Nolan Jones’ extended to 0-for-26. Charlie Blackmon, whose double off Cease in the fourth inning led to the Rockies’ run, had a 1-for-4 night that left him 3-for-28 in his last nine games. Rodgers went to bed at .194, Jones at .143 and hard-luck hitter Elehuris Montero at .210.

With four hits Monday, the Rockies have been held to four or fewer hits five times this season, twice at home. The current drought of four home games without a home run is their longest since a five-gamer from May 9-13, 2017.

“We’ve got to bunch them together,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “And we’ve got to do it as a group … too many at-bats where we’re just not putting a base hit on.”

It was only 10 days ago when the Rockies lashed 20 hits and tied their road record with 11 extra-base hits in a 12-4 victory at Toronto. But Blackmon missed that game with a stomach bug that made its way through the clubhouse, and the Rockies have been quite unwell since.

Rodgers, who missed four games with the bug, said it isn’t an excuse. He noted that the team won the first game of the doubleheader Sunday against the Mariners because pitcher Cal Quantrill didn’t let vomiting between innings stop him from being effective.

“It just shows that we keep fighting,” Rodgers said.

On Monday, Rodgers believed McMahon would win it, just as he did in the home opener with a grand slam and in the first game on Sunday with an infield single.

Rodgers recalled the game in Toronto, when the Rockies -- who can never be accused of not grinding -- showed en masse for early hitting. Feeling he’s missing fastballs that he should crush, Rodgers said he is going to dial up the machine to mimic those pitches when he arrives at Coors on Tuesday for the second of four against the Padres.

“We’re going to get out of it,” Rodgers said. “We’ve been in some good ballgames. We faced another good pitcher tonight. We’re facing three more this series. We’ve just got to keep battling, getting on base, putting together quality at-bats.”