The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-1 thanks to a consistent offensive performance against Patrick Corbin and a quality performance from Tyler Anderson.
The matchup didn’t seem that promising at the outset. According to ESPN Stats and Information, Diamondbacks’ starter had “allowed two earned runs or fewer in five of his six starts this season. Rockies starter Tyler Anderson is one of two pitchers to allow at least four earned runs five times this season (the other is teammate Tyler Chatwood).”
The Rockies offense got going quickly. Charlie Blackmon led off the game with a double off of Corbin. Consecutive singles by DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado drove in Blackmon, putting the Rockies on the board with a run. A wild pitch from Corbin scored LeMahieu and a follow-up home run by Mark Reynolds drove in Arenado to give the Rockies a 4-0 edge at the end of the first inning.
Staked to an early lead, Tyler Anderson not only held it up but put together a great outing. He had been struggling so far this season and hadn’t managed to get to the sixth inning in any of his previous starts. At the outset, it looked like bad luck would derail this one. Anderson gave up two infield hits, committed a throwing error then threw a wild pitch in the first inning, but managed to escape unscathed. During the top of the third, Anderson seemed to find a different gear. An infield single off of Arenado’s glove and an error by Trevor Story on what could’ve been a double play seemed ominous.
But Anderson regrouped and struck out two batters in that inning to get out of the frame. Over those first three innings, there were two Rockies errors and three infield hits among the Diamondbacks’ six hits. However, with all that action, only one run was scored. Yet, the strikeouts that started in the third kept coming. Anderson struck out seven of the last ten batters he faced, including striking out the side in the fifth and sixth innings. He finished the evening throwing 103 pitches over six innings with just six hits, one walk and one earned run allowed. Anderson’s ten strikeouts matched his career high, first accomplished last August 24th against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Meanwhile, the Rockies didn’t limit their scoring to just the first inning. They kept tacking on runs throughout the game as each member of the starting lineup got on base at least once and each position player got a hit. In the third inning, Arenado hit a rare (for him) “Coors Field home run”, barely clearing the wall in left field. In the bottom of the fourth, Anderson reached on a fielder’s choice before scoring on Blackmon’s triple. LeMahieu then drove Blackmon in with his second single of the game, making it 7-1. Ian Desmond chased Corbin from the game with a single in the bottom of the fifth and scored later that inning after Gerardo Parra’s single to run the tally up to 8-1. Ryan Hanigan plated the Rockies ninth run in the bottom of the seventh, driving in Story who had doubled off of reliever TJ McFarland. The Rockies would finish the day with fourteen hits and two walks.
Chris Rusin came on to relieve Anderson in the top of the seventh. He threw three innings and allowed just one hit. Rusin struck out three more Diamondbacks to earn the multi-inning save. Together, Rockies pitchers struck out thirteen Diamondbacks for the night.
The Rockies have a chance tomorrow to win the series and push the Diamondbacks two and a half games behind first place in the National League West. The Sunday game starts at 1:10 MDT with Tyler Chatwood taking the mound for the Rockies against Diamondbacks righty Taijuan Walker.