Colorado Rockies take series from the Diamondbacks in resilient 6-4 victory

The Rockies and Diamondbacks both got brilliant starts from their De La Rosas in a pitching duel that eventually landed    Colorado the series win.

Charlie Blackmon set the tone for the Rockies' big day on defense with a leaping grab at the wall to take extra bases from Nick Ahmed, the first batter of the game.

Rubby De La Rosa did not allow a baserunner until Charlie Blackmon singled in the bottom of the fourth, the Rockies could not score and the game remained 0-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Rockies worked their way to a bases loaded, one out opportunity on singles from Wilin Rosario and Brandon Barnes on either side of a walk to Daniel Descalso. Jorge De La Rosa hit into a double play to end the threat and keep the Rockies off the board.

Jorge De La Rosa shone through five innings of scoreless baseball, but was pulled in the top of the sixth with the return of a nagging injury to his left middle finger. De La Rosa walked A.J. Pollock and Paul Goldschmidt in the top of the sixth before handing the game over to Rockies’ long man Christian Bergman.

De La Rosa allowed just four hits, three walks and three strikeouts. In 82 pitches, the ace generated eight groundball outs.

With two outs for Bergman in the sixth, a single from Wellington Castillo scored Paul Goldschmidt for the first run of the game, charged to Jorge De La Rosa. 
A pop up in foul territory off the bat of Chris Owings ended the inning, but with a scary collision between Michael McKenry and Nolan Arenado that left the Rockies third baseman in danger of an early exit.

Nolan Arenado remained in the game, and with two outs in the bottom of the sixth launched a game-tying solo shot over the fence in left center field. Arenado’s 20 homeruns lead the team -- Carlos Gonzalez is next in line with 10.

The Diamondbacks answered right back in the top of the seventh with back-to-back doubles down the left field line from Nick Ahmed and A.J. Pollock, taking a 2-1 advantage over the Rockies.

Rubby De La Rosa was done after seven innings, holding the Rockies to one run on five hits.

After a scoreless bottom of the seventh, Justin Miller came in to work the eighth. Miller kept the Diamondbacks from adding to their lead with a little help from a stellar play from Ben Paulsen that robbed Chris Owings of a homerun.

Troy Tulowitzki lead off the bottom of the eighth, pinch hitting for Miller. On the second pitch of the at bat, Tulo took Daniel Hudson deep oppo style to tie the game at two. The shot was Tulowitzki's first career pinch-hit homerun.

Ben Paulsen, Wilin Rosario and Brandon Barnes (error) drove in four more runs to give the Rockies a comfortable 6-2 lead.

Walt Weiss made a number of defensive replacements, including putting Carlos Gonzalez in the game in right field. Boone Logan took over in the top of the ninth for the Rockies. A walk and a single to start the frame forced a call to the bullpen, John Axford was given the ball to shut things down. The Diamondbacks tacked on two runs in the ninth, but Axford managed to salvage the Rockies' 6-4 victory. 

W: Miller (1-0), L: Hudson (2-3), SV: Axford (13)


Source: FanGraphs