Cuevas latest to wear hero’s hat for hot Rox
SEATTLE» Another game, another hero for the rolling Rockies.
Saturday, it was Noel Cuevas’ turn to leap tall buildings in a single bound and hit a homer off an opposing ace.
The rookie outfielder, the No. 9 hitter in the order, smashed a three-run homer to left field in the seventh inning off Mariners strikeout artist James Paxton, leading Colorado to a 5-1 victory at Safeco Field. The rally began with Pat Valaika drawing a walk and Gerardo Parra advancing him to third with a single.
Cuevas’ initial assignment was to put down a squeeze bunt. He failed to do that but instead came away with a signature moment.
“We tried to make something happen, with a little safety squeeze,” said Cuevas, who hit the second home run of his young career. “After I fouled it off, we took off (the sign), and in my mind I was like, ‘I’m going to get a hit off this guy.’ He left the cutter-slider right there for me, and I was able to put a good swing on it.”
Manager Bud Black was happy for Cuevas and is thrilled to see the whole team contributing.
“Today was a big blow by Noel, for sure,” Black said. “You want your bench players to contribute, and they want to contribute in a big way. Today was a big swing for us, (from) Cuevas.”
The Rockies (46-43) have won five straight games, eight of their last nine and 12 of their last 17, putting them smack in the middle of contention in the National League West. Colorado moved within three games of division-leading Arizona, with the Diamondbacks playing a late game against San Diego.
Solid pitching has been Colorado’s constant key. Over the last 15 games, the Rockies have posted a 2.79 ERA, with the starters boasting a 2.55 ERA with 10 quality starts.
Kyle Freeland wasn’t as sharp as he had been most of the season, as evidenced by his four walks and the 98 pitches he needed to maneuver through five innings. Nonetheless, he kept the Rockies in the game, leaving with the score tied 1-1 and handling traffic like a veteran after a Red Rocks concert.
The Mariners put men on base in every inning except the second, but Freeland found ways to dodge major trouble. The Denver native lowered his impressive ERA to 3.18, allowing five hits and striking out four.
“This was the definition of grind,” Freeland said. “I didn’t have my full arsenal today. My fastball was not all over the place, but it was not where I wanted it to be.”
Even though he wasn’t particularly sharp, Freeland hung tough, a sign of his growth as a pitcher.
“It shows a little bit of maturity, I guess, to not allow anything to snowball on me or let them scratch a couple of runs across,” he said. “It’s really about bearing down and really focusing on making pitches that really count, and getting weak contact or swings and misses to get out of an inning.”
Relievers Scott Oberg, Adam Ottavino (two innings, three strikeouts) and Wade Davis combined to blank the Mariners over the final four innings.
Ottavino, who’s likely to hear his named called for the All-star Game on Sunday, has worked two innings three times this season, allowing a combined four hits and no runs, with no walks and eight strikeouts over those six innings. Ottavino has struck out three batters in a game eight times this season.
Colorado added a bonus run in the ninth on a double by Carlos Gonzalez and a sacrifice fly by Parra.
Until Cuevas’ home run, Paxton had tied the Rockies in knots, and ended up striking out nine, including four whiffs by Charlie Blackmon. Colorado managed to scratch out a run in the fourth on a single and stolen base by Ian Desmond, followed by an RBI single by Gonzalez.