#25
Thursday 29th April — Colorado Rockies vs Arizona Diamondbacks @ Chase Field
The Rockies were looking to put a disappointing series against the San Francisco Giants behind them with a visit to Chase Field, Arizona. The DBacks have quite a few injuries, including arguably their best player Sterling Marte who got hurt during the last series against the Rockies. With a few key players on the IL, this game seemed like a prime opportunity to right the Rockies’ ‘away from home’ ship.
The game started on a worrying note. Antonio Senzatela, pitching for the Rockies, took 25 pitches to get through the first inning, but benefitted from a strong 2nd inning from the offence. In the 2nd, Charlie Blackmon hit an RBI double to give the Rockies’ an early lead. It looked like it would get a lot better for the Rockies’, who found themselves with the bases loaded and two outs. Tapia stepped up to the plate but couldn’t convert any of the runners into runs, hitting a flyout into foul ball terriroty which was caught for the final out.
The momentum carried into the 3rd. Garrett Hampson hit a leadoff double, and was quickly followed by a Trevor Story RBI triple, giving the Rockies a 2–0 lead. Ryan McMahon came to the plate and extended that further on a blooper which brought another run in — 3–0 Rockies.
Unfortunately, the fun ended there. The DBacks slowly but surely fought their way back into this game, levelling the score in the bottom of the 4th and finally taking the lead in the 7th. Robert Stephenson was assessed the loss after giving up the final 2 runs of the game in the 7th. The inning could have gone much differently. Stephenson committed an error for the first AB which gave Arizona an early baserunner. They took advantage of this, following up with a triple which gave the DBacks a lead they didn’t relinquish.
The loss dropped the Rockies to 1–9 in away games. The Rox just keep finding new and inventive ways to lose, as evidenced by the 7th inning. The offence is dribbling runs, and not converting the few key opportunities that present themselves throughout the course of a game. When the Rockies have runners on base, there’s no confidence that they’ll turn those chances into runs.
It’s a real slog at the moment and there is not a lot going right for this team. A win tomorrow will level the series, but the Rockies’ are up against Madison Bumgarner, so that’s going to be a tough one.
Final Score — Colorado Rockies 3 — Arizona Diamondbacks 5
Rockies’ MVP — Justin Lawrence — He made his Rockies debut and threw with some serious heat.
Rockies’ Record — 9–16