He is risen, but they have fallen: Rockies 4, Phillies 1

Happy Easter Sunday everyone! I really hope you chose to go to church or spend the day with your family instead of watching this one — because you really didn’t miss much.

The one bright spot of the night? An exceedingly encouraging outing by Jerad Eickhoff, who replaced Nick Pivetta in the rotation after he was sent down to Triple-A, Lehigh Valley earlier this week.

The Rockies sent Jon Gray to the mound, who dominated the Phillies over the 6 frames he pitched, allowing just 1 hit while striking out 5.

Eickhoff managed to hold Colorado at bay for the first few innings, but the action began in the bottom of the 3rd, as Trevor Story drove in David Dahl with a single left, giving the Rockies the 1-0 advantage.

In the top of the 4th, the Phillies had their best scoring opportunity outside of the 9th inning. After Cesar Hernandez reached on a fielding error, Rhys Hoskins stepped to the plate, and hit a ground ball that was seemingly going to put runners at first and second, but, an inexcusable base running mistake by Cesar Hernandez stripped the Phillies of their opportunity to tie, or even lead the game.

The Phils exited the 4th without a single run to their name.

Past that horror, Eickhoff cruised thru two more innings — but the scoring picked back up again in the bottom of the 6th, as the bad guys managed to tack on another run on an Ian Desmond RBI single, and two more on a Tony Wolters double, giving the Rockies a 4-0 lead.

Eickhoff then finished out the inning, and ended up with a final line of 6 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 8 K. While that line may not be quick to impress, rest assured, Eickhoff looked like his usual self, which is a great sign for a troubled Philadelphia rotation.

Fast-forward to the top of the 9th inning, however, and that one, or perhaps two missed runs really show their importance.

Roman Quinn grounded out, and Phil Gosselin was sat down on strikes, draining the hope from Phillie fans everywhere.

However, after an Andrew Knapp double and JT Realmuto single, the Phightin’ Phils scored their first, and only, run of the game, cutting the Rockies’ lead to 4-1.

Andrew McCutchen then singled, and both runners advanced on wild pitches by the Rockies’ “closer,” Wade Davis, making it runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs for... the one and only Cesar Hernandez, who grounded out to end the game.

Ultimately, this game was a bust for many reasons, but none were more obvious than that of Cesar Hernandez, whose blatant base running mistake, and consistent lack of production really hamstrung the Phillies in this one.

It was rough, but, look on the bright side — we are still in first place in the NL East.