Rockies send minimum batters to plate for first time in franchise history as Tigers rookie Keider Montero throws three-hit shutout

The hapless Rockies made franchise infamy again on Tuesday in Detroit.

Facing a rookie pitcher in the opener of a three-game series at Comerica Park, Colorado got skunked 11-0 in a blowout that goes down as one of the most embarrassing losses in a season full of them.

Right-hander Keider Montero threw a three-hit, complete game shutout with no walks and five strikeouts. The Rockies sent the minimum 27 batters to the plate due to a trio of double plays, marking the first time in franchise history that’s happened.

“Montero had a really solid four-pitch mix,” Rockies manager Bud Black told reporters. “He had a lively fastball, two good breaking balls (with a slider and knuckle curve) and a good change-up. He threw a ton of strikes, and we couldn’t solve the pitches in the strike zone.

“… He got on a roll pretty much the whole game of coming after us with strikes, and we didn’t square any up. It’s rare these days, to have a complete game with a low pitch count (at 96). You don’t see that type of game in this era.”

Ryan McMahon’s single in the second, Ezequiel Tovar’s single in the seventh and Aaron Schunk’s single in the eighth were Colorado’s only baserunners in the loss. All three hitters were eventually out on double plays.

The Rockies have been no-hit three times: Al Leiter in Miami and Hideo Nomo at Coors Field, both in 1996, and Clayton Kershaw at Dodger Stadium in 2014. But Colorado tallied multiple walks in the ’96 no-nos, and managed a baserunner via an error in Kershaw’s game, thus had never sent just 27 to the dish before.

Until Tuesday, when Montero wasn’t overpowering (his fastball topped out at 95.6 mph and averaged 93.2), he had Colorado hitters guessing and consistently mistiming their swings. That enabled him to tally a “Maddux” — the term for a start in which a pitcher throws a complete-game shutout with less than 100 pitches.

Meanwhile, the Rockies’ pitching was horrendous.

Parker Meadows led off Detroit’s half of the first inning with a homer on a piped fastball by Bradley Blalock, who was erratic in his four innings of work.

“The fastballs up are kind of eating me alive right now,” Blalock told reporters.

Blalock allowed five runs, including four in the second inning, while walking five as the rookie right-hander again lacked control. His ERA now stands at 5.87.

“The walks came back to bite him,” Black said. “It was the opposite of Montero.”

With the Tigers up 5-0 at the midway point, they poured it on with a six-run sixth against the combination of Anthony Molina and Justin Lawrence. The frame started with a walk to Jace Jung, then featured RBI knocks by Meadows and Matt Vierling as well as a sacrifice fly by Kerry Carpenter.

Lawrence then spelled Molina and immediately gave up a two-run single to Andy Ibáñez to push the score to 11-0. Colorado fell to 54-91 with the loss.

With 17 games remaining in the season, the Rockies need to finish 9-8 to avoid their second straight 100-loss season, and 5-12 to avoid surpassing last year’s club-record 103 defeats.

Wednesday’s pitching matchup

Rockies RHP Tanner Gordon (0-5, 7.55 ERA) at Tigers RHP Casey Mize (2-6, 4.30)

4:40 p.m. Wednesday, Comerica Park

TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM

The Rockies haven’t officially announced their starter for Wednesday, but it figures to be Gordon. He was called up from Triple-A on Tuesday to take the place of southpaw Austin Gomber, who was supposed to start on Wednesday but went on the paternity list. Gordon’s been mostly roughed up in seven big-league outings so far, though the rookie did have a quality start on Aug. 3 in San Diego when he threw six innings of one-run ball. In his most recent outings, he was shelled, giving up 11 runs across those two starts and six homers.

Mize hasn’t been glamorous but he’s been effective when healthy, as he hasn’t given up more than three runs in an MLB start since May. The No. 1 overall pick in 2018, Mize missed significant time this season with a hamstring injury. He had a quality start in his return on Aug. 30 against Boston, and last week threw 5 1/3 innings with three runs against the Padres.

Pitching probables

Thursday: Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (2-10, 4.96) at Tigers LHP Tarik Skubal (16-4, 2.53), 11:10 a.m.

Friday: Rockies TBA vs. Cubs RHP Javier Assad (6-5, 3.14), 6:40 p.m.

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