Colorado ends hex; Black gets win 1,000
One thousand career victories as a manager is an impressive milestone, but the Rockies’ 9-4 victory over the Dodgers on Sunday afternoon was no doubt a bigger deal for Bud Black.
At least in the moment. He can relish the milestone somewhere down the road when he talks to his grandkids.
“I would rather talk about the game and the guys,” Black said after he became the 66th manager in major league history to get 1,000 wins. “It shows that I’ve had some longevity but it’s a tribute to the players that I have had … and all of the coaches, front office people, and people behind the scenes.”
After the game, Black was presented with a white Rockies jersey with “1,000” on the back of it.
On a raw, windy afternoon at Coors Field, where nearly every flyball became an adventure, the Rockies got a pair of two-run homers from C.J. Cron and Elias Diaz and a shutdown performance by their bullpen to clinch the three-game series.
Beating the Dodgers at Coors had become something of a Holy Grail for the Rockies, considering that they had not won a series against Los Angeles since Aug. 9-12, 2018 — a string of eight consecutive series losses to the perennial National League West powerhouse.
“This was a good team win today,” Black said. “Yes, we’ve had a tough go against them. They’re good. But I think we can play with anybody. In most of the games (vs. the Dodgers), we’ve been in the fight, but they’ve gotten the best of us.
“But this is a new year and we play them 19 times. Let’s see what happens.”
Black, the only manager in club history to lead the Rockies to back-to-back playoff seasons (2017-18), went 649-713 managing San Diego from 2007 through the early part of the 2015 season. His record with the Rockies is now 351-360.
Left-handed reliever Ty Blach, the Denver native and Regis Jesuit High graduate, made his Rockies debut Sunday. He was outstanding, giving up one hit with one walk and four strikeouts through four scoreless innings to earn his first professional save. It was just the seventh four-inning save in
Rockies history.
“The most important thing today was getting the series win,” said Blach, who had not pitched in a big-league game since 2019. “Obviously, being out there today was a great feeling. I cherished every moment of it.”
The Rockies jumped out to a 6-0 lead after three innings, chasing Dodgers left-hander Julio Urias with no outs recorded in the third.
Colorado’s first big blow came in the first on a two-run line drive by Ryan Mcmahon that Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor misplayed in the wind. Mcmahon was originally credited with a two-run double but the official scorer later changed the call to an error on Taylor.
Cron’s 445-foot, two-run homer to left off Urias in the third inning
— and into the teeth of the wind — put Colorado ahead, 5-0. Elias Diaz added an RBI single to make it 6-0.
Diaz’s two-run homer in the seventh put Colorado ahead, 9-4, and salted away the victory.
“I had to hit it hard, on a line drive, because otherwise, the wind (would) take it down,” Diaz said.
The Dodgers had roared back with a four-run fourth, keyed by a three-run error by new Rockies left fielder Kris Bryant.
L.A. pushed across its first run on Taylor’s sacrifice fly off starter Antonio Senzatela. The Colorado right-hander gave up nine hits in just 3 1/3 innings of work but danced around trouble and was charged with only one earned run.
“I gave up some hits today but was able to get some double plays and get out of some trouble,” Senzatela said. “But my command was not sharp today.”
He departed with one out and the bases loaded, giving way to Jhoulys Chacin. Chacin struck out Mookie Betts and should have been out of the inning when Freddie Freeman hit a high flyball to Bryant in left field. Bryant appeared to be camped under the ball, but the wind carried the ball and it glanced off Bryant’s glove, allowing three runs to score.