Home Run Derby comes early as Cincinnati Reds drubbed by Rockies

It’s been a season filled with long games for the Cincinnati Reds. Add another one to the list.

The official game time between the Reds and Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Tuesday was three hours and seven minutes. It felt a whole lot longer than that.

For a second straight game, Colorado Rockies outfielder Charlie Blackmon led off the bottom of the first inning with a leadoff home run, but this time the Reds couldn’t stop the bleeding. The Rockies would go on to win in a 17-4 rout, racking up 19 hits and a total of seven long balls, which set their club record. Additionally, that tied the Reds’ record for most homers allowed in a game and the team also tied their record for most extra-base hits allowed in a game with 14.

Here are some observations from the game:

Rough return

In his first start back from the disabled list, Jon Moscot‘s night couldn’t have gone much worse. In the first inning, he allowed two home runs, three doubles and a single, putting the Reds in a quick 5-0 hole. The onslaught continued in the second, as he gave up two more solo home runs. Making matters worse, Moscot was hit in the right ear by a pitch while attempting to bunt in the bottom half of the inning. He was removed from the game after the inning.

While he deserves some slack since this game was in Denver, home runs are becoming a huge area of concern for Moscot. In 29 1/3 inning in the big leagues, he has already allowed 10, which amounts to more than three per nine innings.

Bullpen bashed (again)

The Reds’ dreadful bullpen and Coors Field didn’t figure to be a great combination coming into the series. That came to fruition on Tuesday. No one could stop the Rockies’ offense, and the unit — a combination of Daniel Wright, Dayan Diaz and A.J. Morris — combined to give up 10 runs, 11 hits (eight by Wright), three more home runs (two against Wright) and five walks (four by Diaz) over the final six innings of the game.

With Diaz in particular, this could very well be the final straw on his first trip to the majors, as he has allowed seven earned runs, eight hits and seven walks in only four innings.

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Bruce brings the lumber

Aside from a bases-loaded, no-out situation that yielded just one run in the third inning, the Reds’ offense was fairly quiet on the night. Well, except for Jay Bruce. The right fielder wound up falling a single short of the cycle, as he lined a double in the second inning, hit a 452-foot solo home run to dead center field in the sixth and laced an RBI triple in the eighth. He’s been quietly having a bounce-back season at the plate, which should make him an attractive trade option for contending teams before the July deadline as the Reds continue to add more young, cheap and controllable talent in the rebuild.

Notes:

• Joey Votto also hit his second homer in as many days, an opposite-field shot in the sixth inning, two batters before Bruce hit his.
• After leaving Monday’s game early with a sore left ankle, Brandon Phillips was originally in Tuesday’s lineup, but was scratched before the game. Jordan Pacheco started at second and went 0-for-3.
• For the second time this season, Adam Duvall appeared at third base after a double switch in the seventh inning. With Eugenio Suarez struggling, it should be interesting to see if Duvall starts playing there more often.
• Each of the Rockies’ first five hitters in the lineup had at least one home run and two hits.