Colorado Rockies defeat Cincinnati Reds, 6-4, to notch 1st series win since April 13-15

Kyle Kendrick kept the Cincinnati Reds off-balance all afternoon and the Colorado Rockies received home runs from Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon in a 6-4 victory at Great American Ball Park on Wednesday.

The victory gave the Rockies their first series win since April 13-15, when they swept the San Francisco Giants on the road.

Kendrick's final line -- 7⅓ innings,  five hits, four runs, a walk and a strikeout -- doesn't do justice to how well he pitched. The veteran right-hander allowed a pair of solo home runs but was otherwise brilliant, needing just 61 pitches to get through seven innings. He ran into some trouble in the eighth, surrendering a one-out single and walk after allowing a leadoff homer to Tucker Barnhart. Rockies manager Walt Weiss opted to go with Boone Logan, who walked two batters, one with the bases loaded, and allowed a bloop single. He did not record an out.

Fortunately, the Rockies had two things going for them at that point. The offense -- led by Arenado, who went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer -- scored plenty of runs to support Kendrick and the pitching staff. And Rafael Betancourt, who entered the game having allowed just two walks all season, came on in relief of Logan and induced a couple of weak fly balls to get Colorado out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam.

There are some questions to be asked about Logan's role with the team going forward, but for now, let's all enjoy the fact that the Rockies, as a whole, are playing much better baseball than they were earlier this month. Colorado, having won four out of its last five contests, will head east to take on the Philadelphia Phillies for a month-ending, three-game set.

Source: FanGraphs