Following up his walk-off cycle on Sunday, Nolan Arenado came through in the clutch again with a two-run triple in the eighth inning to give the Rockies a 4-3 win over Arizona.
After back-to-back singles by Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu to start the eighth against Diamondbacks starter Zack Greinke, Arenado laced a 1-0 pitch off the out-of-town scoreboard in right, bringing both runners home and turning a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead.
Nolan Arenado came through in the clutch again. His 2-run, 8th inning triple put the #Rockies ahead, sending them to their 6th straight win. pic.twitter.com/6dnrwZDGBr
— Today in the MLB (@TodayintheMLB) June 21, 2017
The Rockies had that deficit thanks to hiccups from usually reliable relievers in the top of the eighth. David Peralta went deep on a 2-1 pitch from Chris Rusin and Paul Goldschmidt homered on the first pitch he saw from Adam Ottavino, turning a 2-1 Rockies lead through seven innings into a 3-2 deficit, eventually, setting the stage for Arenado’s heroics.
The Rockies did get on the board first when a Jake Lamb throwing error allowed Ian Desmond to move to second after his infield single. Desmond then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored when Jeff Mathis’ throw to third sailed into left field, giving the Rockies a 1-0 lead.
Carlos González then doubled the Rockies’ lead in the fourth with a solo home run against Greinke that sailed 449 feet to dead center field, making the lead 2-0.
Arizona didn’t get on the board against Rockies starter Germán Márquez until the sixth, when he hit Goldschmidt with a pitch, allowed a single to Lamb and Brandon Drury hit a sacrifice fly to score Goldschmidt. It was the only run Márquez allowed in six innings of work, he gave up four hits and a pair of walks, striking out three.
The strong outing from Márquez was, however, just prelude to the drama in the eighth and Greg Holland’s 25th save in the ninth, giving the Rockies their sixth straight win.
The Rockies will look to extend their winning streak to seven and take a series from their division rivals tomorrow night with Jeff Hoffman on the mound against the Diamondbacks’ Taijuan Walker.
The Rockies also sported a couple of excellent defensive plays in the game. Here’s Story keeping the bases empty in the fourth inning:
.@Tstory2 making plays like nbd pic.twitter.com/87u0lyKA16
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 21, 2017
And here’s CarGo ending the Diamondbacks’ half of the fifth inning:
#CarGo defining full extension. pic.twitter.com/WLUyLBIuGJ
— MLB (@MLB) June 21, 2017