The Atlanta Braves’ struggles at Coors Field continued Saturday night with a 8-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
Matt Wisler showed flashes of snapping out of his recent slump before things unraveled for him again in the sixth inning. Wisler retired 12 of 13 batters at one point before a one-out walk to D.J. LeMahieu in the sixth set things in motion for the Rockies.
After a single by Nolan Arenado, Carlos Gonzalez came to the plate and doubled off the center field wall scoring LeMahieu to tie the game at 3-3. Trevor Story followed with an opposite field single which scored both Arenado and Gonzalez to make the score 5-3 and to put an end to Wisler’s night.
Ian Krol came on in relief but didn’t provide much as he walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases before Tony Wolters lined a two-run single to right to make the score 7-3.
Wisler helped himself early on with an RBI single in the second inning to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead. It didn’t last long as Wisler issued a leadoff walk to Gonzalez in the bottom half of the inning before Story followed with a two-run home run to center to put the Rockies in front.
Wisler falls to 4-10 on the season after allowing five hits and six earned runs over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked two batters both of whom scored. Tyler Anderson moves to 3-3 on the season. He allowed eight hits and three runs over six innings of work.
Atlanta tied the game in the third on an RBI hit by Adonis Garcia. They briefly took the lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Chase d’Arnaud that scored Anthony Recker.
Story continues to be a thorn in the side of the Braves going 4-for-4 with a pair of homers and five RBIs. Markakis and Garcia each finished with two hits for Atlanta.
The Braves have now lost nine straight games at Coors Field. The two teams will meet again on Sunday in the series finale.