Wade Miley was pretty good today and kept the Colorado Rockies off-balance with the exception of two pitches.
If you were a late arrival to this game, you probably missed the Diamondbacks first two runs that came promptly in the first inning when Franklin Morales issued a single and a walk to Ender Inciarte and Aaron Hill who both came in on a Mark Trumbo double.
Morales settled down, though, and only issued two more hits for the rest of his outing: 6.0IP, 5H, 2ER, 2BB, 2K. Not a huge accomplishment against a Diamondbacks team that is almost as bad as us, but you have to take pleasures in the little things in a season like this.
The Rockies pulled even on a Ben Paulsen two-run home run -- his very first swing back in the big leagues -- showcasing that the mustached masher is happy to be wearing a "CR" on the cap again.
Arizona took the lead at 3-2 when Wilin Rosario failed to complete a double play, missing the first baseman and allowing a run to score as the ball trickled into shallow right field.
But the bull giveth and then the bull taketh back.
Rosario showed an excellent sign at the plate when he hit a line-drive home run to right-center field, tying the game.
The bullpen made things ... interesting ... in the bottom of the ninth. Rex Brothers command deserted him again. He walked two batters and gave up a single to Aaron Hill on a 3-0 pitch that wanted to be a strike the way reality stars want to be famous. It was right down the middle and lined too hard into right field to load the bases.
And just when I was certain Rex Brothers was going to walk in the winning run ... he didn't. Thanks to David Peralta for swinging at some pitches that weren't strikes, but Rex got him to ground to short stop Charlie Culberson who got the force at the plate and kept the game tied.
And then ... just when I was absolutey sure that Matt Belisle was going to allow the winning run on a hit, or a walk, or a hit batsmen, or a passed ball, or a pick off attempt that landed in the front row ... none of those things happened. Mark Trumbo grounded our to first and it would take extras to decide this one.
When life gives you a season like this, be happy for a guy like Corey Dickerson. Left-handed reliever Oliver Perez came into this game as hot as any bullpen guy in the national league and swiftly dismissed DJ LeMahieu and Josh Rutledge on strikeouts.
But Corey Dickerson turned on an 0-1 pitch and launched his third left-on-left home run of the season.
The Rockies would get an insurance run in the inning when Rosario singled in Brandon barnes who had singled and moved up when Nolan Arenado was hit by a pitch.
It wouldn't matter though -- although its nice to see Rosario showing signs of life and moving toward increasing his value for either this team or on the market this off season. -- because LaTroy Hawkins strike out the side in the bottom of the tenth. Y'know, as expected. (It was his first time striking out the side this season.)
The law of big numbers said we were going to have to win one of these kinds of games eventually ... and today was it.
Source: FanGraphs