WOLTERS WALK-OFF
Braves walk in winning run
They tried to manufacture a run by calling for Charlie Blackmon to bunt. They survived the first blown save from their high-priced new closer. They wriggled away from a runner at third base with two stellar defensive plays. And they played their first extrainning game since 2016.
And after all that, the Rockies escaped with a 3-2 victory Saturday over the Braves at Coors Field when catcher Tony Wolters took a four-pitch, walk-off walk that scored Carlos Gonzalez.
Wade Davis gave up two hits and a run-scoring single to Ryan Flaherty in the ninth as Atlanta rallied to tied the game late. But Gonzalez lined a one-out double to left field, after striking out in three previous at-bats, before Wolters watched three 98 mph fastballs and an off-center slider from Braves reliever Arodys Vizcaino land out of the strike zone with the bases loaded.
The “school of hard knocks” for young Rockies pitchers, as manager Bud Black called it, took a recess when veteran right-hander Chad Bettis moseyed to the mound. Black positioned the senior member of his pitching staff between two budding arms in the rotation, not for an island of experience, but because he knows exactly what to expect.
“Chad between anybody is pretty good,” Black said. “There’s going to be a consistency to Chad’s games. I suspect Chad’s starts, if he makes all 33 or 34, there will be less variability in his outings.”
Bettis for the second time this season cruised through a crafty and professional outing, throwing 5M innings on 88 pitches while giving up just four hits. Freddie Freeman’s run-scoring double in the sixth, on Bettis’ final pitch, was the only mark against the 29year-old.
Trevor Story belted a solo homer to left-center field in the fourth and Nolan Arenado singled in Blackmon in the third as the Rockies (5-4) rebounded from a frigid loss to the Braves in their home opener Friday.
Sitting 89-91 on his fastball and working with quick efficiency, Bettis blew through five innings on 69 pitches. He allowed more than one base runner in an inning just once, in the sixth. And even his walks were harmless. After Dansby Swanson’s free pass led off the fifth, Bettis forced Flaherty into a spinning double-play from Ian Desmond to Story and back again at first base.