Arizona pounds pitchers, but Rockies almost rally
D-BACKS 10, ROCKIES 9
The Rockies’ chiropractor could be a very busy man Saturday morning. He’ll no doubt be adjusting pitchers, whose necks were strained watching Arizona home runs fly out of Coors Field Friday night.
The Diamondbacks launched four home runs — two by Ketel Marte — and then held on for a 10-9 victory that left the Rockies with 5-8 record in LoDo and a lousy start to a nine-game homestand against National League West foes.
The Rockies almost pulled off a LoDo miracle with a three-run ninth.
The rally began when Charlie Blackmon hit a two-run home run off Andrew Chafin in the ninth to score Ryan McMahon, who led off with a single. A walk by Trevor Story, a single to right
by Nolan Arenado and a walk by pinch hitter Daniel Murphy set the stage. David Dahl’s groundout to short scored Story, but former Rockies closer Greg Holland struck out Ian Desmond and Chris Iannetta to save the game for Arizona.
For Rockies starter Tyler Anderson, Friday’s game was another nightmare, and his place in the rotation is certainly in jeopardy.
It wasn’t just that Anderson gave up six runs on seven hits in four-plus innings, a performance that left him with an 11.76 ERA after five starts. The most frustrating part of the left-hander’s night was what happened after the Rockies rallied to tie the game 4-4 in the fourth.
Desperately needing a shutdown fifth, Anderson promptly gave up a solo home run to Adam Jones, a rocket that left contrails above Coors Field, traveling 441 feet and onto the concourse beyond left field. Marte’s follow-up single finally brought manager Bud Black to the mound to pull Anderson and summon righthander Bryan Shaw.
That didn’t work out too well, either. Shaw, who entered the game with an 0.95 ERA, was greeted with a two-run home run by Eduardo Escobar, extending the D-backs’ lead to 7-4.
Escobar’s blast was Arizona’s third home run of the night. The first was Marte’s 442-foot, tworun shot to left-center off Anderson in the third. Anderson — who gave up 30 home runs last year, tied for the most in the National League — has already served as a launching pad eight times this season. Opponents are batting .320 against him.
Arizona home run No. 4 was Marte’s two-run blast to dead center in the seventh off inconsistent right-hander Seunghwan Oh, whose ERA climbed to 7.11 ERA. Marte’s second home run was another momentum-killer for Colorado, coming shortly after McMahon hit a two-run home run in the sixth to trim Arizona’s lead to 7-6.
The elephant in the Rockies’ clubhouse, of course, is what to do next with Anderson. It seems extremely doubtful he’ll make his next start, unless it is with Triple-A Albuquerque. Anderson, 28, does have minor-league options remaining.
Arizona left-handed starter Robby Ray dominated Colorado for the first three innings, striking out five. But sloppy Diamondback fielding — errors by shortstop Nick Ahmed, who failed to touch second base on a force play, and third baseman Eduardo Escobar — lit the fuse for four unearned runs by the Rockies. The key hits in the inning were a bases-loaded RBI single by Chris Iannetta, followed by a two-run, bases-loaded single by Garrett Hampson.