The Rockies come from behind late to beat the Phillies 4-3

The Rockies lost Kyle Freeland after two and a half batters and the Phillies outhit the Rockies, but Colorado was able to stave off the Phillies and win it 4-3 on Friday.

Phillies starter Vince Velasquez couldn’t find the plate in a long first inning. He walked three batters around a couple of outs, which loaded the bases with two outs and Carlos González up to bat. CarGo hit a single up the middle to drive in two runs and give the Rockies a 2-0 lead.

Freeland was removed in the first inning after having faced just two batters with what looks like a groin injury. The Rockies bullpen combined to throw 8²⁄₃ quality innings though. It started with Chris Rusin, who replaced Freeland in the first inning and finished it without allowing a run. In the second inning, however, Rusin got himself into an even more difficult than Velasquez faced in the first. He allowed three consecutive singles to start the inning, which loaded the bases with nobody out. He got out of it with a strikeout, a pop out, ad a fly out. In all, Rusin pitched 3¹⁄₃ scoreless innings. He allowed four hits, didn’t walk a batter, and struck out five.

Antonio Senzatela relieved Rusin in the fourth. He retired the final batter that inning and pitched a clean fifth, but the Phillies got to him in the sixth. Aaron Altherr led off with a single, and after Senzatela retired Tommy Joseph, Nick Williams doubled and Maikel Franco tripled to tie the game at two. After Senzatela walked Cameron Rupp, Black pulled him from the game and inserted Scott Oberg. Oberg needed one pitch to end the inning and keep the score tied 2-2.

The seventh didn’t go quite as well for Oberg. César Hernández led off with a double, and Freddie Galvis moved him to third after grounding out. The Rockies played the infield in, and Altherr snuck a single past a diving Alexi Amarista to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead.

It didn’t take long for the Rockies to tie it up though. In the bottom of the seventh, Nolan Arenado tied the game with a solo home run to left-center field. It was his 25th home run of the season, as well as his 97th RBI.

The Rockies took the lead back in the eighth. Pat Valaika, who entered the game earlier as part of a double switch, led off the inning with a walk. Neither Jonathan Lucroy nor Raimel Tapia could bring him home. DJ LeMahieu, however, bounced a grounder to the right side that made it into right field to score Valaika and give the Rockies a 4-3 lead. Greg Holland, the fifth Rockies reliever of the game, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to secure the win for the Rockies.

The Rockies improved to 63-47. The second game of this three game set begins tomorrow at 6:10 MT. Jon Gray starts for the Rockies and Nick Pivetta gets the ball for the Phillies.