Trevor Story (l), Matt Holliday (m) and Nolan Arenado (r) look on during the Colorado Rockies 7-5 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night at Coors Field. (Photo: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
The Colorado Rockies certainly made things interesting on Friday night.
And they had more than one opportunity to pull off another big-time win.
It wasn't to be, however, and the Rockies fell to the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5, at Coors Field.
St. Louis jumped on Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela by scoring four runs in the second inning, highlighted by pitcher Miles Mikolas' two-run home run.
Then the Cardinals chased Senzatela in a three-run fifth to take a 7-0 lead.
The Rockies got things going in the bottom of the fifth. Charlie Blackmon started the rally with a two-run home run. Nolan Arenado followed with a solo shot to get the Rockies within 7-3.
Ian Desmond brought Carlos Gonzalez home with a fielder's choice ground ball, with Desmond getting to third on a St. Louis throwing error. Desmond scored on Ryan McMahon's RBI single and the Rockies were within 7-5.
They had a good chance in the sixth inning with runners at first and second and no outs but could not score.
In the eighth, the Rockies had runners at first and second with one out and the bases loaded with two outs but could not push any runs across.
Earlier, they missed on two other great chances.
They failed to score with runners at first and second in the second inning. And they also came up empty with runners at first and third in the third inning.
The Rockies will try to even the series in game two on Saturday. Coverage starts with Rockies All Access at 4:05 p.m. MDT on KOA NewsRadio 850 AM and 94.1 FM.
The Rockies remained one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the N.L. West race. The D'backs lost to the Seattle Mariners, 6-3.
Here are the updated N.L. West standings through Friday.
Here are the updated N.L. Wild Card standings through Friday.
Postgame comments from Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez.
Postgame comments from Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.
Postgame comments from Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis.
Postgame comments from Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela (first base coach Tony Diaz serving as interpreter).
Postgame comments from Rockies manager Bud Black.