Rockies 4, Athletics 1: Two unheralded players join Nolan Arenado in providing another victory at Coors Field.

Senzatela pitches like ace; Valaika leads offense

Rockies manager Bud Black has made a routine of telling reporters, “It’s going to take all 25 guys for us to win.”

On Saturday night at Coors Field, the red-hot Rockies again proved that’s not simply coachspeak by Black, as a pair of the team’s non-headlining players led the way to a 4-1 victory over Oakland.

Antonio Senzatela, who began the season as a reliever and was with Triple-a Albuquerque for all of May and June, pitched like an ace, with 5L innings of one-run ball, while grinding through a career-high 110 pitches.

And Pat Valaika, hitting .137 coming into the game, made the most of his ninth start at second base this season with an RBI single in the second inning and a solo home run in the fourth to catalyze Colorado’s offense.

The Rockies faced an early deficit when Senzatela’s start nearly went off the rails in the opening frame, as a double, a single, a sacrifice fly and a walk led to a 1-0 Athletics lead and an inflated pitch count for the right-hander from the get-go.

But the 23-year-old settled in from there, and his teammates made up for it in the box.

Carlos Gonzalez led off the second with the first of a career hightying three doubles for the night, and Tom Murphy immediately followed with a triple to tie the game.

Valaika’s single then scored Murphy, giving Colorado a 2-1 advantage.

The Rockies tacked on another run via Nolan Arenado’s National League-leading 27th home run of the season, this one a 370-foot shot to right that barely cleared the out-of-town scoreboard and made it 3-1.

Later, after Jake Mcgee effectively closed out the sixth inning for Senzatela, Seunghwan Oh turned in a scoreless seventh inning in his Rockies debut while working around a hit and a walk in front of another strong crowd in Lodo, this time a sellout of 47,809 fans.

Adam Ottavino earned his 22nd hold of the season with a clean eighth inning, and Wade Davis set Oakland down in order in the ninth for his 29th save.

Photos by David Zalubowski, The Associated Press Rockies second baseman Pat Valaika is congratulated by teammates as he returns to the dugout after hitting a solo home run off Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Brett Anderson during the fourth inning Saturday night at Coors Field.

Newly-acquired Rockies relief pitcher Seunghwan Oh debuts against the Oakland Athletics in the seventh inning Saturday.