Tyler Anderson and the Rockies once again showed the makings of an easy victory, but the Brewers didn't go down without a fight and made this one a nail biter until the very end. The newly reformed bullpen pitched 3 1/3 scoreless innings to secure a 6-5 victory.
The Rockies threatened in the first inning when Carlos Gonzalez lined a ball to left field against the shift for his first hit of the season, followed by a walk from Nolan Arenado. Trevor Story then grounded softly to the right side causing first baseman Jesus Aguilar to field the ball all the way in the hole, leaving no one to cover first base. This was just one of the many defensive miscues from the Brewers. Unfortunately, the Brewers were able to get out of the inning unscathed after Zach Davies forced a broken bat groundout from Gerardo Parra.
Oh, and Arenado did this to Ryan Braun for the second straight game:
It's just what he does.#NolanBeingNolan pic.twitter.com/QY5YsJoYId
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 5, 2017
With a 1-0 deficit in the third inning, Charlie Blackmon kicked off a rally with a rocket liner to center field, and DJ LeMahieu followed with a soft liner in which second baseman Jonathan Villar awkwardly dove for and dropped in the infield. With two on, Arenado continued to pester Braun with a double to left field scoring a run. After a walk by Story, Parra topped things off with a three-run double to right-center, giving the Rockies a 4-1 lead.
Tyler Anderson looked dominant through the first three innings, but started to scuffle in the bottom of the fourth.
Braun unloaded a hanging breaking ball over the left field fence, far out of Arenado's reach, to bring the Brewers within two runs. Domingo Santana then walked and was driven in on an RBI double from Travis Shaw. The Brewers had another chance to score, but Shaw was thrown out at home with ease by Trevor Story on a bloop single to shallow-left field to end the inning.
The Rockies continued to apply pressure in the fifth, plating two more runs on hits by Mark Reynolds and Blackmon.
Anderson looked in midseason form at this point, striking out the side in order in the fifth inning.
Like Jon Gray yesterday, Anderson started to unravel, and he unraveled quickly. The Brewers sprayed three hits in the bottom of the sixth bringing them within one run. Jake McGee and Carlos Estevez came in on relief and finished off the inning.
Anderson's night was finished after 5 2/3 innings. He allowed five runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out eight.
Adam Ottavino and Mike Dunn took over the seventh and eighth innings and both pitched a clean inning of relief to preserve the 6-5 lead going into the ninth.
Greg Holland followed up last night's save with a solid 1-2-3 inning, including two strikeouts, to shut the door and bring the Rockies to 2-0 on the season.