ROCKIES BEAT MARLINS; WILD CARD LEAD AT 2½
Gray shines as Rox move closer to postseason berth
Remember the uptight, batclenching, teeth-grinding Rockies team that appeared to be in danger of blowing its playoff chance earlier this week?
You can toss that team back into the closet, at least for the time being.
Sending a signal that it just might be ready for baseball’s prime time, Colorado drubbed Miami 15-9 at cool, wet Coors Field on Wednesday behind a 14-hit attack and another biggame performance from starter Jon Gray.
“I feel like we’ve had control of our own destiny for more than a month, but we just had to start producing on offense,” third baseman Nolan Arenado said as music blared in the clubhouse. “We’re starting to do that now, at the right time. That’s good to see.”
Colorado’s offense, so unpredictable the second half of the season, is sizzling again. Trevor Story knocked in four runs and had a two-run double in the fourth. Carlos Gonzalez went 3-for-4, including two doubles, and had two RBIs.
Ian Desmond, inconsistent all season, had one of his best games in Rockies purple. Starting in left field, Desmond hit a
three-run homer in a six-run second inning and added an RBI single in Colorado’s three-run fourth.
The victory, coupled with losses by Milwaukee and St. Louis, reduced the Rockies’ magic number to clinch a wild-card playoff berth to two. Colorado moved 2½ games in front of Milwaukee, which lost 6-0 to Cincinnati, and 3½ games ahead of St. Louis, which lost 5-1 to the Chicago Cubs, for the National League’s second wild card.
Gray was dominant at times during his six-inning outing. He used his diabolical slider, as well as some well-timed curveballs, to strike out Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton three consecutive times en route to his 10th win. Stanton, traditionally a Rockies killer, finished the three-game series 1-for-12 with a double. He left Coors Field still stuck on 57 home runs.
Gray suffered a big hiccup in the fourth inning, getting raked for three runs on four hits, including a 414-foot, two-run homer by A.J. Ellis. But Gray came back to retire seven consecutive batters after getting a life lesson from catcher Jonathan Lucroy.
Lucroy, telling Gray he needs to maintain “tunnel vision” on the mound, instructed Gray to flush the bad inning down the toilet. Literally.
“I actually did that,” Gray said. “I took a piece of gum wrapper and I threw it into the toilet and flushed it down.”
Asked if that will be his “new thing,” Gray quipped: “I guess that will have to be, now.”
Manager Bud Black called Gray’s rebound from the tough inning “critical.”
“They got it to 6-3, and with (Miami’s) offense and how they have been swinging it lately, there was a lot of game left,” Black said. “Jon was really bummed in the dugout after Ellis hit one into the seats, but I was very proud of Jon and how he bounced back.”
Over his past five starts, Gray is 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA. He has allowed three or fewer runs in 13 consecutive starts, the secondlongest single-season streak in franchise history. Ubaldo Jimenez had a 14-game streak in 2010.
“The thing we have really never had in my time here is a stopper; somebody you can count on to every fifth day to pick you up,” Arenado said. “I think we are seeing Jon grow into that this season.”
Black, naturally, was thrilled with an offense that not only pounded out 14 hits but walked 10 times and batted 9-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
“It was a good offensive day,” Black said. “I liked the walks and all the baserunners today, and I really liked the way we took our at-bats.”
The game turned ugly late when Miami scored six runs over the final two innings and rocked rookie right-hander Jeff Hoffman for four runs in the ninth.
The Rockies are off Thursday, but they’ll be scoreboard watching to see how the Brewers and Cardinals fare. Colorado’s three-game weekend series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field closes out the regular season.
If the Rockies capture the NL’s second wild-card spot, they would play at Arizona on Wednesday at 6:08 p.m. MDT in a one-game, wild-card playoff game for the right to play the Dodgers in a division series.