It was the same losing recipe for Colorado with defensive errors, missed opportunities and not enough power on offense and a rough start for a young pitcher on Wednesday night at Coors Field. The Phillies improved to a National League best 31-18 (which the Dodgers could tie with a victory over Arizona late Wednesday night) and the Rockies dropped to 8-41.

Palmquist Still Searching for Groove

From the jump, the Phillies hit Carson Palmquist hard, spoiling his Coors Field debut. With one of the best offenses in baseball, Palmquist shouldn’t take it personally. Palmquist gave up six earned runs (seven total) on 10 hits, including homers to Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, and four walks. On the bright side, Palmquist recorded his first MLB strikeout on a 72.6-mph sweeper to retire MLB co-homer-leader Kyle Schwarber. Palmquist got his second strikeout, also against Schwarber, in the fourth.

Palmquist tossed two scoreless innings in the second and fourth, but gave up four in the third inning. Not only were the four walks problematic, but his fastball stayed too low and over the plate, making it easier to hit for Philadelphia. Forty of his 86 pitches were balls. After two starts, Palmquist has posted a 0-2 record with an 11.88 ERA in 8 1⁄3 innings.

Could Have Been Worse

Down 7-3 with the bases loaded and one out, due in large part to back-to-back walks, Palmquist left the game and Angel Chivilli inherited a mess. He performed brilliantly, getting Johan Rojas to line out and then by striking out Turner. Unfortunately, Chivilli gave up a two-run homer to J.T. Realmuto in the sixth, making it 9-3 Philadelphia. In the seventh, a single, an error, and two fielder’s choices gave the Phillies runners on the corners with two outs. Chivilli left the game then, and Scott Alexander entered, getting Harper to ground out. Alexander then got Schwarber, Castellanos and Realmuto to all ground out for the first three-up, three-down top half of an inning. Zach Agnos entered in the ninth and put up another quick, hitless, scoreless and baserunner-less inning.

Starting with Small Ball

The Rockies got one run in each of the first two innings through good old-fashioned small ball. In the first, Jordan Beck led off with a single and Ezequiel Tovar moved him to second with a bunt. That allowed a Hunter Goodman single to score Beck and cut an early Phillies lead to 2-1. In the second, Kyle Farmer led off with an opposite-field double. Nick Martini followed with a grounder to move Farmer to third, paving the way for an Adael Amador bloop single to plate Farmer.

And just like that, for one shining moment, the Rockies were tied with the Phillies 2-2 after two innings.

Defense Remains Sloppy

The Rockies committed three errors in another embarrassing defensive night. Palmquist didn’t help with a wild pitch. Miscommunication on a popup where Amador ran too far and nearly collided with Farmer, resulting in a dropped ball, deserved to be called another error.

The Rockies were already in trouble in the first when Turner and Harper led off with singles and pulled off a double steal with one out. It got worse fast when Goodman’s throw to third on the double steal sailed into left field, easily allowing Turner to score and Harper to get to third. A Nick Castellanos sac fly then scored Harper, making it 2-0 in the first. In the third with one out and Castellanos on first and Schwarber on second, JT Realmuto hit a double to right field that was bobbled by Mickey Moniak, allowing Castellanos to get home. The third error came in the seventh on a grounder where Farmer tried to turn two, bobbled the ball, and got none.

4 Rockies Post 2-Hit Nights, But Strikeouts Continue

Nick Martini led the way for the Rockies, hitting his first homer as a Rockie, sending an 88.2-mph cutter from Taijuan Walker 388 feet to right field above the out-of-town scoreboard in the fourth inning to cut Philadelphia’s lead to 6-3.

Martini also jump-started a mini-rally in the bottom of the ninth by starting things off with a double and scoring a run. Tovar hit a double and had an RBI single in the ninth, but was thrown out trying to stretch out another double. Goodman added a pair of RBI singles, in addition to his first stolen base of the season, and Jordan Beck added two singles and scored a run.

After four innings, the Rockies had zero strikeouts. In the fifth, Taijuan Walker sent Tovar and Brenton Doyle down swinging. Colorado struck out five more times for a total of seven in the final fifth innings.

Up Next

The Rockies and Philies will conclude this four-game series and the seven-game season series on Thursday with a day game. Germán Márquez (1-6, 8.78 ERA) will go head-to-head with Ranger Suárez (2-0, 5.09 ERA).