Bird gets first win against Diamondbacks
West Ranch alumnus Jake Bird has worked his way into the mix with the Colorado Rockies. Bird notched his first major league win on Sunday at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The reliever entered in the top of the eighth in a 5-3 ball game. Bird retired the side in just nine pitches before C.J. Cron smacked his second homer of the day out past center field.
Cron’s three-run bomb put the win in play for Bird but it would be another quick one and done for the former Wildcat.
Rockies reliever Daniel Bard entered the top of the ninth and earned himself the save while gifting Bird his biggest accolade yet.
Bird held teams scoreless through his first four outings and first six innings. Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger would score Bird’s first earned run as the former NL MVP hit a solo shot to right center on Wednesday.
The reliever entered in the sixth inning against Arizona on Saturday needing just one out. Rockies manager Bud Black pulled starter Austin Gomber after he surrendered three hits, one home run and two earned runs. Bird would also fall victim to the Diamondbacks’ hot inning and gave up another solo homer to first baseman Christian Walker.
The former Wildcat remained unphased as his team was still up 7-5.
Colorado then added on four more runs on the board in the sixth, giving Bird even more breathing room. He threw another perfect inning and ended his day with 1.1 innings of work on 19 pitches.
Through 9.1 innings of work entering Wednesday, Bird had an ERA of 1.93 with six strikeouts and one walk.
Bird again faced the Dodgers on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, but had a bit of a rough outing, surrendering the gametying run on a wild pitch to Mookie Betts in the seventh inning. Bellinger scored on the play, tying the game at one run apiece. Betts would later hit a walk-off single off Bard, driving in the winning run of the Dodgers’ 2-1 win over the Rockies.