Rockies split doubleheader with Mariners but have yet to win back-to-back games this season

DENVER — Twenty-two games into the season, the Rockies have yet to win back-to-back games.

Call it the Rockies’ Catch-22.

If they hit well — an increasingly rare occurrence — they don’t pitch well. If they pitch well — an occasional occurrence — they don’t hit.

After beating the Mariners, 2-1 in 10 innings, in the opener of Sunday’s split-doubleheader at Coors Field to snap a six-game losing streak, Colorado had a chance for back-to-back wins. But that opportunity evaporated when the Mariners blew up starter Peter Lambert with a six-run second inning and cruised to a 10-2 victory.

It didn’t help that Seattle right-hander Emerson Hancock limited the Rockies to two runs on four hits over six innings. The two runs came on Elias Diaz’s two-run double in the first.

And so the Mariners took two of three to win the series, leaving Colorado (5-17) without a series victory this season.

Lambert, who had been the Rockies’ long reliever, moved into the starting rotation when left-hander Kyle Freeland went on the injured list with an elbow strain. Lambert was eager to show what he could do, but the second inning was messy.

Seattle ripped off six hits, including a three-run triple by J.P. Crawford. Lambert hit Luke Raley and Luis Urias in back-to-back at-bats, setting the table for Crawford’s big hit. Then Crawford scored on Lambert’s wild pitch.

The Mariners stowed the game away with a three-run sixth against right-hander Noah Davis. Seby Zavala hit a two-out double and scored on Julio Rodriguez’s two-out bloop single to right. Cal Raleigh put an exclamation point on the inning with a two-run homer to center.

Davis, added to the roster as the 27th player for the doubleheader, departed the game in the seventh inning with an apparent injury.

Colorado’s victory in the opener featured a wild final two innings.

Ryan McMahon’s RBI infield single in the 10th drove in Charlie Blackmon and gave the Rockies their second walk-off win this season. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar’s single to score Jacob Stallings had tied the game, 1-1.

McMahon also played hero in the Rockies’ first walk-off win of the season when he hit a grand slam in a 10-7 victory over Tampa Bay on April 5 in the Rockies’ home opener.

Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the top of fame on J.P. Crawford’s RBI single in the top of the 10th, but Rockies reliever Justin Lawrence retired the next three hitters.

The Game 1 win provided a bit of baseball justice for the Rockies. They thought they’d won the game with a two-out, walk-off homer in the ninth on Stallings’ 373-foot drive to left field. However, a fan deflected the ball away from Mariners left fielder Dylan Moore, who jumped for it only to see it land back on the field. Stallings’ hit was initially ruled a double, but the Rockies challenged. After a review, the umpires ruled that the fan had interfered with Moore’s ability to make the play and called Stallings out, sending the game into extra innings.

The game was an extreme pitcher’s dual, a rare occurrence at Coors Field. It was scoreless through nine innings, just the third home game in Rockies history to enter extra innings in a scoreless tie.

Rockies starter Cal Quantrill, pitching with a nasty stomach bug that had him throwing up in between innings, tossed six scoreless innings, giving up three hits and striking out four. He did issue a career-high tying five walks but wiggled out of trouble. Quantrill made his third straight quality start.

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