Well it wasn't pretty. It wasn't stress free. It required extra innings and some good luck. But the Rockies won a baseball game on the road for the first time since June 29th.
Brett Anderson worked seven traffic-filled innings, but through double plays and nine strikeouts he only allowed two runs. The eleven hits allowed were a bit much, but his Houdini act kept the Rocks out front. He threw 114 pitches a day after Jorge De La Rosa threw 118; I wonder when was the last time Rockies starters threw 110+ in back to back days. 2011? Either way, I like it.
The offense jumped out to yet another early 3-0 lead. Nolan Arenado doubled with two out in the first, and Justin Morneau singled him home. in the second inning Michael McKenry singled, Charlie Culberson doubled him home, and Charlie Blackmon doubled him home in turn.
In the sixth, McKenry doubled home Drew Stubbs to put the Rockies ahead 4-1. After McKenry's three hits tonight his line sits at .350/.406/.500. He's definitely not this good. But you know what? I'm ready to hand him the keys to the starting catcher's job right freaking now. He can block pitches. He calls a good game. He makes contact. I'm totally ready to move on from the Wilin Rosario experience. Sure Wilin will hit the occasional majestic moon shot, and he has a much better arm than McKenry. But overall, McKenry feels like a vastly better option.
I guess we gotta talk about that eighth inning. Tommy Kahnle, one of the nicest acquisitions of the off season, was on the mound in a 4-2 game. He quickly retired the first two batters. But then on a deep drive to center field off the bat of Starlin Castro, Drew Stubbs took his eye off the ball briefly as he approached the wall, and he muffed the play.
The next batter Luis Valbuena fouled off a bunch of pitches. He was swinging out of his shoes on every pitch. Kahnle had him at a 3-2 count when he threw a brutally bad hanging change up that Valbuena blasted to right field. Tie game. Same script every single night huh? Rockies offense disappears after the first few innings and the bullpen blows it. Regular as clockwork.
But I guess the Cubs kind of suck too, we can't forget that. Rob Scahill, brought up to reinforce the taxed bullpen, worked a scoreless ninth. Then in the 10th this guy Wesley Wright for the Cubs walked two of the first three batters. McKenry singled, Brandon Barnes singled, and a wild pitch brought home two runs. More like Wesley WRONG, amirite?
LaTroy Hawkins worked two innings last night, so he couldn't close this one out. Adam Ottovino allowed a two out single to bring Valbuena back up to the plate, and for a moment there I wondered if the unthinkable could happen again. But Charlie Blackmon caught his sinking line drive, and here we are talking about a Rockies victory. Sometimes baseball isn't a relentless swamp of misery and failure.
Source: FanGraphs