So here's the thing. 2012 was a bad year for the Rockies. As in really, really bad. It wasn't as though the team was horrible on paper going into the year. However, injury after injury, and players underperforming their expectations game after game, doomed the starting rotation, and the entire Rockies team. The 4 man rotation experiment happened because we didn't actually have 5 healthy, passably acceptable starting pitchers.
I'm mentioning this because I know that most of us have forgotten about the existence of the 2012 season. I totally get it. It's a coping mechanism. It's much easier to be happy about our lot in life as Rockies fans if we go through life believing 2012 never happened. When the starting pitcher leaves the game in the 7th inning grabbing his back immediately following his 100th pitch, it's really hard not to harken back to that. To quote what a bowl of petunias once said, "Oh no, not again."
Chacin's premature exit aside, this was another great win for the team, who won their 7th straight and are now 12-4 on the year. Chacin was perfect through three innings, did not give up a single run, and gave up only 3 hits on the night. Wilton Lopez and the Rex Brothers held the Diamondbacks offense scoreless and the only run of the game was an unearned run following a Chris Nelson error in the 9th, allowing Gerardo Parra to score.
More impressive than all of this however, is this number: 1. That is the number of walks allowed the entire game by the Rockies pitching staff. It came at the most suspenseful part of the game, when Chacin walked Cliff Pennington on a full count to load the bases in the top of the 5th. Chacin induced a ground out from Ian Kennedy to end the inning.
The offensive production was not potent, but it was effective. The first run of the game came in the bottom of the 4th. Troy Tulowitzki swung at the first pitch he saw for a 2-run homerun. Chris Nelson tripled the following inning, and Jhoulys Chacin brought him home with a sac fly.
With this win, the Rockies extend their current winning streak to 7, their overall record to 12-4, and their record against divisional rivals to 7-3. Nicely done, gentlemen.
Current record: 12-4
2012 record (through 16 games): 8-8
2011 record (through 16 games): 12-4
The Graph:
Source: FanGraphs
Purple Row Roll Call:
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