LeMahieu gets Rockies going in right direction
Sure, the Rockies got three home runs in their 9-4 comeback victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night.
And, yes, Charlie Blackmon has morphed into a combination TedWilliams/Roy Hobbs.
And don’t forget the salvage job turned in by Colorado’s bullpen.
But itwas DJ LeMahieu’s mad dash for home that put the fans at Coors Field on their feet. It was the kind of gutsy, heads-up, aggressive play that comes straight out ofmanagerWaltWeiss’ baseball bible.
With two out in the fifth, LeMahieu was perched on first, having just singled in Blackmon to tie the score at 4-all.
Carlos Gonzalez rolled a single to right-center field, and LeMahieu just kept on running. He got a green light fromthird-base coach StuCole and slid home for the go-ahead run as catcher MiguelMontero dropped the relay throw.
“That was a great win,” Weiss said. “It was a great play byDJ and Stu. That aggressiveness is something we talked about last year and this year.”
For the second straight game, theRockies put their “Grape Crush” offense into action, banging out 12 hits.
Nolan Arenado, who came into the game hitting .143 and looking as if he was pressing, hit two homers. The firstwas a solo shot to center in the fourth inning thatmagically hopped out of A.J. Pollock’s glove and over the wall. The second was a moon shot into the left-field bleachers in the sixth. He also doubled home a run in the eighth.
Michael Cuddyer’s two-run homer to right off Diamondbacks starter Brandon McCarthy put the Rockies on the board in the fourth.
Blackmon went 3-for-4, giving him nine hits over the last two games, tying Juan Pierre (Sept. 20-21, 2002) for the most hits in two games in franchise history.
All of that on a nightwhen lefty starter Jorge De La Rosa put his team in a deep hole for the second time in this young season. De La Rosa has posted an 8.31 ERA after two starts.
Saturday night, hewas doomed by a 42-pitch first inning and ended up throwing 101 pitches in just 4L innings. The Rockies trailed 4-0 when he trudged off the mound.
“Those first three innings Iwas just throwing not pitching,” De La Rosa said. “I wasn’t thinking out there. I have to bounce back next time.”
De La Rosa struggled with his command and his demeanor for the second consecutive game. In the season opener, his meltdown on the mound in Miami was a major story line in the Rockies’ 10-1 loss to the Marlins.
Rockies relievers picked up the slack for De LaRosa, blanking Arizona the rest of the game. TommyKahnle, the surprise of spring training, pitched 1M scoreless innings, followed by a scoreless seventh frame by Adam Ottavino. The right-hander gave up a leadoff double to Pollock but then used his nasty slider to strike out Aaron Hill, Paul Goldschmidt and Martin Prado in succession. Rex Brothers threwa perfect eighth, and LaTroy Hawkins shut Arizona down in the ninth.
TheDiamondbacks fell to 1-7, theworst start in franchise history.