Rockies’ triple play can’t prevent D-backs’ sweep
Day of long home runs turns into night when Colorado is unable to rally
As September temperatures heated up Tuesday for a long day of Denver doubleheader baseball, longballs left Coors Field the yard at a quick clip.
The Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks knocked out homers nearly once every two innings, with Arizona sweeping the doubleheader by scores of 6-4 and 5-3.
“You always brace yourself for maybe a high-scoring game in this place,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said.
In six games this season at The Keg before Tuesday, the Rox and Diamondbacks averaged 12.5 runs per. It’s an ideal environment for big bats and hefty hits.
But on a day of big hits, the highlight for Colorado came in the ninth inning in the first game. The Rockies turned a sudden triple play.
With reliever Jason Gurka pitching, Arizona’s Ender Inciarte doubled to lead off. Then Gurka walked Phil Gosselin. With runners on the move, Paul Goldschmidt lined out to Jose Reyes. The shortstop threw to DJ LeMahieu at second to double off Inciarte. Then LeMahieu threw to Ben Paulsen at first to get Gosselin.
It was just the fourth triple play in Colorado’s history.
Before the triple play, the Diamondbacks had seized control behind Gosselin’s three-run homer in the seventh inning for a 6-2 lead.
And Arizona — behind home runs from A.J. Pollock and Goldschmidt — completed the sweep with the help of a four-run seventh inning.
In total, the teams combined for eight home runs. The list was long — and so were the hits. Rockies rookie Kyle Parker slammed a 466-foot solo homer to center field in the first game, the longest of the day. LeMahieu’s 462-foot shot was the longest of his career by more than 40 feet.
But it was Pollock’s two-run homer in the seventh inning that broke open a tight second game.
With the Rockies ahead 3-1, Scott Oberg entered in relief to start the seventh. He hit Gosselin with a pitch, was warned by home plate ump Todd Tichenor, walked Chris Owings, then gave up a two-run double to Aaron Hill. Jairo Diaz replaced Oberg and got two outs, but then Pollock stepped up and hit a tworun homer to the right-field bullpen. It went 390 feet — the only homer shorter than 430 feet.
Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado also homered in the second game, a 434-foot shot, along with a double in the eighth and an RBI single in the first.
The long-range hitting belied decent pitching from both sides. Yohan Flande — the Rockies’ best pitcher for the better part of a month — gave up just two runs on five hits in five innings in the early game.
Kyle Kendrick, Colorado’s starter in the nightcap, went four innings in his return from a shoulder injury and allowed one run on three hits. It was the first time since May 17 he allowed one run or fewer in an outing longer than one inning.
“Guys going out there worrying about the ball flying out of the park or giving up homers, you’re focused on the wrong thing,” said Kendrick, who pitched a game for the first time since shoulder inflammation sat him down Aug. 1. “I’m just trying to make my pitches. We know about this ballpark. We know I’ve struggled giving up the home run this year. But when I’m out there, I’m not thinking about it.”