MIAMI | The switch from Coors Field to pitcher-friendly Marlins Park has sent the Colorado Rockies into a batting slump.
The Rockies mustered little offense for the second game in a row at Miami and lost Friday night to rookie Jose Urena and the Marlins, 5-1.
Carlos Gonzalez hit his seventh homer, ending a string of 17 consecutive scoreless innings for the Rockies. But they managed only six other hits, and have one run and 13 hits in the first two games of the series.
“We just have to keep battling offensively,” manager Walt Weiss said. “We haven’t certainly gotten the timely hit here the last couple of days. You just fight through the tough times when they show up.”
Kyle Kendrick (2-8) allowed only two runs in 6 2-3 innings, but fell into a tie for the major league lead in losses. He dropped to 14-4 in 28 games against the Marlins.
“A great job by Kyle,” Weiss said.
Even so, the Rockies lost their third game in a row.
Troy Tulowitzki extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the fourth. But the Rockies hit into two double plays, and Charlie Blackmon was thrown out trying to stretch a single.
“To score runs, you’ve got to put together at-bats consistently,” the Rockies’ Corey Dickerson said.
Urena (1-2) pitched into the seventh inning for his first major league victory.
“He had a good fastball, and threw the changeup a lot to lefties,” Dickerson said. “He just had a lot of people off balance.”
The Marlins hit two home runs, neither by major league leader Giancarlo Stanton, and nearly had a third.
J.T. Realmuto hit a three-run homer, and Martin Prado had a solo shot. Marcell Ozuna’s two-run drive was wiped out by a replay review that determined the ball hooked foul, so he settled five pitches later for a two-out RBI single.
Stanton had a single and a double and scored a run.
Making his fourth major league start, Urena allowed six hits and no walks in 6 2-3 innings. He took a shutout into the seventh.
Urena limited the Rockies to one run in six innings last week but did not get a decision.
Miami’s Dee Gordon went 1 for 4 to retain his lead in the major league batting race over the Rockies’ DJ LeMahieu, who also went 1 for 4. Gordon is hitting .355, LeMahieu .349.
Ozuna’s single in the fourth extended his hitting streak to 13 games and gave Miami a 1-0 lead.
Prado went sprawling when he ducked out of the way of a high-and-inside fastball from Kendrick, and then hit the next pitch for a homer to make it 2-0 in the sixth.
Realmuto’s third homer came off Scott Oberg and followed a pair of walks in the eighth.
Blackmon charged in to make a lunging catch in center field and rob Realmuto of an RBI hit in the fourth.
UP NEXT
Marlins RHP Mat Latos, sidelined since May 21 with left knee inflammation, is scheduled to start Saturday against Rockies RHP David Hale.
Latos is 1-4 with a 6.12 ERA, and the Marlins’ injury-plagued rotation is a combined 17-23. Fernandez, Jarred Cosart and Henderson Alvarez are all expected to return from injuries in the next month.
“We’ve got to get the pitching right, myself included,” Latos said. “We have guys who can do it.”
