With Detroit win, Colorado nabs consecutive road series victories

The key ingredient in a successful Rockies season: competence away from the thin air of Coors Field.

Two road series into the 2022 campaign the early returns appear promising.

Charlie Blackmon rapped four hits, Randal Grichuk had three, including his first home run with the club, and Chad Kuhl delivered his second straight quality start as Colorado beat the Tigers, 6-2, on a gusty Sunday at Comerica Park.

The Rockies are 4-1 on the road this season and 10-5 overall.

For a little perspective, the Rockies didn’t get their fourth road win until May 30 last season, and they didn’t notch their first road series win until July 9-11 at San Diego. They now have two series wins away from Coors after taking two of three in Motown, with a four-game set up next in Philadelphia.

“We’re loose, I think we’re confident,” Grichuk said on the TV broadcast after coming within a triple of the cycle in a 3-for-4 day that included two RBIS and two runs scored. “We know we have talent. We know we have depth.

Any night we can have a few guys take the night off and we’re still confident with the guys that are in there.”

Adding to the good vibes Sunday — aside from Connor Joe and Grichuk extending hit streaks of 11 and nine games, respectively — was the Rockies’ production in the clutch.

Each of the Rockies’ six runs came with two outs, starting with C.J. Cron’s sizzler in the first inning that deflected off first baseman Spencer Torkelson’s glove to score Blackmon (double to left).

Blackmon set the table again in the third with an infield dribbler that stymied the shift, followed by his eighth stolen base since 2018. After outs from Kris Bryant (strikeout) and Cron (ground out), Grichuk pounced on a 2-1 change

up for a 414-foot home run to leftcenter and 3-0 lead. Blackmon’s third hit of the game — a two-out, two-strike liner to right — chased starter Tyler Alexander in the top of the fourth and brought home Jose Iglesias (single) and Joe (double) for a 5-1 edge.

Another two-out rally, sparked by Grichuk’s two-out double, tacked on one more run with Ryan Mcmahon’s single to right.

“For us, it’s uplifting. On the other end, (a two-out rally)’s back-breaking,” manager Bud Black told reporters after the game. “It crushes you, especially if you worked to get a couple of outs with guys in scoring position, then you get a base hit against you.

“We did that a few times today, which was great. … I like a lot what I saw today offensively.”

Black was also pleased with his starter Kuhl, who entered Sunday with a 0.87 ERA and nary an extra-base hit on his watch.

While the latter streak came to an end on Tucker Barnhart’s double in the third, the right-hander was in control throughout most of his six innings of work thanks in large part to a tight slider.

Kuhl even had a heady play in the field in the sixth, running to cover third base on a shallow fly ball to left field with runners on first and second. Mcmahon and Iglesias lost the ball in the wind but Iglesias was able to pick it up in time to throw to a stretching Kuhl for a rare 6-1 force out at third.

“That was a big moment,” Black said. “You never know when they are going to come, but that was the inning that they stressed Chad. We’ve talked about that: Every pitcher is going to be stressed in an inning and that was a critical one.”

Kuhl’s final line: four strikeouts, four hits, two walks and one earned run on 81 pitches for his second win since signing with Colorado this offseason. He now has a 1.10 ERA for the season, with his two earned runs through his first three starts (16 1/3 innings).

He is the first Rockies starter to allow two or fewer runs through their first three starts in club history, and is tied with teammate Austin Gomber (2021) for fewest hits allowed (8) through their first three starts.

“He’s focused, he’s working on some things and they are showing up in the game,” Black said. “The student part of Chad I think is something we’re excited about. It’s still April, and he’s throwing the ball well.

“Even today, you know he didn’t have his best fastball, didn’t have his crisp fastball, and he’s a fastball pitcher. So to not have your best fastball and give up one run in six innings, it tells me something about the guy.”