DENVER — The Rockies winning streak has come to an end, but it didn’t fall without a fight. 

After winning three in a row, tying their season high, the Rockies fell to the Reds 6-5 on Saturday night in 12 innings. The bullpen, which had given up 10 runs in the past two games, was called upon for eight innings of work. 

“We’ve been getting the big hit lately,” manager Bud Black said. “Tonight it didn’t come our way. We had multiple opportunities. It just didn’t happen tonight.”

Jhoulys Chacin got his first start since Sept. 28, 2019, and first with the Rockies since 2014. Chacin was signed right before opening day to be a long reliever, but the doubleheader May 12 messed up rest days for Antonio Senzatela. So Chacin got the nod, and he pitched four innings, giving up four hits and two runs. His only mistakes came when he walked Reds starting pitcher Tyler Mahle, then gave up a two-run home run to Nick Castellanos.

“He gave us what we needed,” Black said. “Four innings, kept us right in the game.”

The bullpen then had the rest of the game to get through. Tyler Kinley was called upon first, and retired all six batters he faced in the fifth and sixth. Robert Stephenson, facing his old team, went out for the seventh. He walked two, and hit Alex Blandino with a pitch to get the bases loaded. Stephenson was removed in favor of Justin Lawrence, who got the Rockies out of the bind without giving up any runs.

Mychal Givens took care of business in the eighth, but things got dicey in the ninth with Daniel Bard pitching. He gave up two singles to start the inning, but made it through without giving up a run. 

With the game still tied 2-2, Shogo Akiyama made a jumping catch to rob Garrett Hampson of what likely would have been an inside-the-park home run to win. So off they went to extra innings, with Jordan Sheffield pitching the 10th. He got some help from his defense, which came together for a double play to move on to the bottom of the inning. 

In the 11th, Ben Bowden came out firing, striking out Tucker Barnhart. But Kyle Farmer hit a two-run home run off Bowden to give the Reds a 4-2 lead. The Rockies responded, with Josh Fuentes hitting it deep to center field to score Raimel Tapia and Ryan McMahon. But the Reds came right back again, scoring two runs in the 12th off Antonio Santos. 

The Rockies scored one run in the 12th, but ran out of bench players and had to turn to pitcher Austin Gomber with two outs, who grounded out to end the game. 

These were big moments for the young bullpen, with Sheffield, Bowden, Lawrence and Santos all being rookies. Black said he thought they held up well in the situations. 

“Really big opportunities, big spots for those guys,” Black said. “They delivered.” 

Yonathan Daza extended his hit streak to six games and his multihit streak to four. Both are the longest of his career. Ryan McMahon also blasted a home run 487 feet to right-center, his eighth of the season and first in the month of May.

“That one felt good,” McMahon said. “I had a good swing on it.”

Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Mychal Givens works against the Cincinnati Reds during the eighth inning of a baseball game Saturday, May 15, 2021, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

David Zalubowski