SAC FLY FOR SERIES
Gomber, Tovar combine for a Rockies first in St. Louis since 2009
The last time the Rockies won a series in St. Louis, Austin Gomber was a sophomore at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Fla.
Barack Obama was president, Michael Jackson died at age 50, and “Mad Men” was a sensation on TV.
That was 2009.
But Gomber’s six-inning gem on Sunday afternoon was the foundation for the Rockies’ nailbiting 1-0 victory over the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, enabling Colorado to take two of three games over the weekend.
Gomber, the former Cardinal who came to Colorado in the infamous Nolan Arenado trade in 2021, delivered another stellar start. The lefty scattered six hits, walked three, and fanned two. Over his last seven starts, Gomber has posted a 2.51 ERA.
“It felt good, and I made pitches when I had to,” Gomber told AT&T Sportsnet. “I put myself in a couple of tough spots but made pitches to get out of it. I just continued to roll.”
In three games previous games against his former team (one start), Gomber was 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA, with the Cardinals hitting .319 against him. He admitted that coming back to Busch and pitching well was special.
“For me, it will always be a big game, to have an opportunity to pitch here and try to pitch well,” Gomber said. “Today was the first time I have pitched well here, as a visitor. So there were some emotions, for sure. I wanted to win.”
Colorado manufactured the game’s only run in the third inning against lefty Zack Thompson. Rookie center fielder Brenton Doyle led off with a double to left, advanced to third on Austin Wynns’ sacrifice bunt, and scored on Ezequiel Tovar’s sacrifice fly to left.
Wynns put down the bunt on his own accord.
“I wanted to get (Doyle) over, no matter what,” he told AT&T Sportsnet. “I mean, what’s my job? What’s my role? Move him over.”
Gomber pitched with guts. Every time the Cardinals threatened to score, he found a way out.
“That was a good win,” manager Bud Black told reporters. “With Austin, it starts with the mindset of an aggressive attack,
going after hitters and not beating himself. I think that’s been reflective of his performance. I think there was a mind-shift change that got him going.”
Gomber’s key moment arrived in the fifth when Lars Nootbaar singled and Paul Goldschmidt doubled. With two outs, Gomber intentionally walked Arenado to load the bases, but Gomber induced Tyler O’neill to ground out to third baseman Ryan Mcmahon. A pumpedup Gomber slapped his glove as he came off the mound.
Apart from the thirdinning hiccup, Thompson dominated Colorado for his four innings, allowing only two hits, walking one and striking out eight. By the end of the game, Colorado whiffed 13 times and had just five hits.
The Cardinals were awful in the clutch Sunday, leaving 15 men on base and going 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
Although he raced some hearts, Rockies closer Justin Lawrence pitched 1 1/3 innings for his ninth save. With two outs in the eighth, Lawrence relieved lefty Brent Suter and promptly gave up a single to pinch- hitter Wilson Contreras, walked Nootbaar (the No. 9 hitter) and hit leadoff man Tommy Edman to load the bases. But Lawrence got Goldschmidt to fly out to center.
Lawrence walked Arenado to open the Cardinals’ ninth but then retired the next three hitters to lock down the win.
The Rockies open a three-game series at Milwaukee on Monday night.