Late Friday night, Nolan Arenado was not a big fan of Coors Field.
Not after the Rockies blew a seven-run lead and watched the Padres score 12 unanswered runs in their 16-12, 12-inning victory.
The Rockies squandered a six-run lead in the ninth inning, their first time ever blowing a lead of six or more runs in the ninth, win or lose, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The two teams combined for 39 hits, including seven home runs, three of them by San Diego’s Hunter Renfroe.
Asked if such a crazy game happens anywhere but Coors Field, Arenado shook his head and said, “Nope. It doesn’t. Only here, and it’s frustrating. But you have to deal with it.”
Then Arenado continued, saying the Rockies had to find a way to get three outs to squelch a San Diego rally that sent the game into extra innings.
“What happened tonight is something we shouldn’t have to deal with,” he said. “We are a better group than that. I feel like we haven’t had too many games lately where everybody says, ‘That was a Coors Field game.’ I feel like we’ve cut those down the last few years, but today was unacceptable. It was just a really bad loss.”
Story’s status. Shortstop Trevor Story was removed from the game in the eighth inning after catching a bad-hop groundball to his forehead. The shot came off Renfroe’s bat at 96 mph.
Story went down like shot, and teammates were worried that he might be seriously injured, but after the game manager Bud Black said that Story did not suffer a concussion.
“I think he’s going to be OK,” Black said. “He got hit pretty hard. That was a pretty hard hit grounder and it took a bad hop. It swelled up immediately. (Trainer) Keith (Dugger) and I both felt it was the right thing (to remove Story from the game).”
Said center fielder Ian Desmond: “The biggest win and probably most important thing is finding out that Trevor is OK. That ball looked like it came up and got him right in the eye. The fact that we’re going to have him back soon is a huge victory.”
Inside the park. Desmond, who came off the bench, recorded the first inside-the-park home run of his career in Colorado’s five-run sixth inning. He got a green light from third base coach Stu Cole.
“Coming off the bench, once I got to third, I was thinking, ‘I don’t have any brakes,’ ” he said.
Padres’ prayer. San Diego snapped a five-game losing streak in historic fashion. According the Elias Sports Bureau, the Padres had never overcome a deficit of six or more runs in the ninth inning in a win or loss prior to Friday night.
