Rockies shutout in series opener in Minnesota, falling 5-0 despite Dakota Hudson’s strong start

Dakota Hudson got no help from his friends on Monday in Minnesota.

In the series opener against the Twins, the right-hander was solid, throwing 6 2/3 innings while allowing only two runs. One of those was unearned as Hudson recorded a season-high 11 ground ball outs.

But Colorado’s offense no-showed again, getting shutout in a 5-0 loss at Target Field. It marked the eighth time the Rockies have been shutout this year as they mustered just six singles.

Hudson retired the first seven batters he faced before the Twins plated an unearned run in the third. In that inning, Manuel Margot’s double turned into a triple when Hunter Goodman misplayed the ball in right field. That led to Christian Vázquez’s sacrifice fly and a 1-0 lead for Minnesota.

The Twins got another run off Hudson in the fourth, using Carlos Correa’s two-out double to score Royce Lewis. But besides that, Hudson looked good through 75 pitches.

“The difference in the velocity between the curveball and the fastball was effective, and (both pitches) had good movement,” Rockies manager Bud Black told Rockies TV. “Lot of balls on the ground, especially left-handed pitchers to the pull side. … With the exception of a couple swings, there wasn’t a lot of hard-hit balls. He pitched well.”

Meanwhile, the Rockies bats remained quiet, just as they were in the 5-1 loss in Sunday’s series finale in St. Louis. They couldn’t solve Chris Paddack, wasting numerous chances against the right-hander en route to the 6 1/3 shutout innings by the Twins starter.

“We couldn’t get to the high fastball, and we couldn’t get to the low secondary pitches,” Black said.

Charlie Blackmon singled to lead off the game, then Ezequiel Tovar’s bunt single gave Colorado two runners on with no outs. But Paddack escaped damage in that frame, as he did while working around singles over the next three innings.

After the Twins lifted Paddack with one out in the seventh, southpaw Steven Okert got the final two outs of that inning. Then in the eighth, Colorado product Griffin Jax — who pitched at Cherry Creek and then Air Force — diced up the Rockies. Minnesota’s set-up man struck out the side in Goodman, Adael Amador and Blackmon.

Nick Mears got the final out of the seventh, but the Twins lit him up in the eighth for three runs. Trevor Larnach’s sacrifice fly scored one, then Lewis hit a 435-foot two-run bomb to left-center to put the game firmly out of reach.

Despite a series split over the four games in St. Louis, the Rockies have now lost eight of their last ten games.

And of injury concern, starting catcher Elias Diaz departed in the opening inning with a left calf injury. Diaz came out of the box gingerly after grounding into a double play, and was replaced by Jacob Stallings.

“(Diaz) has been feeling it for a couple weeks and he’s been able to manage it, but today on that particular ground ball out of the box, it got him,” Black said. “We’ll see in a couple days. (Head trainer) Keith (Dugger) wants to treat it for a day or two and see where we are. It’s a blow. Diaz has been obviously one of our better hitters along with B-Rod, and KB, and Nolan Jones. Our big bats are dropping.”

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