Rockies 2, Cardinals 1: Rockies pitchers make an early lead hold up

If you didn’t know the Rockies record and only knew about the 2019 preseason predictions for the team, you might have dropped in on this game and thought they looked exactly like the playoff contender many people thought they would be. The Rockies played a tough game against a good team in the Cardinals and held on for a 2-1 victory.

Nolan Arenado hit a baseball really far

If you’re looking for reasons that it can still be fun to watch the Rockies for the rest of the 2019 season, their superstar player will always be at the top of the list. Arenado is having another great season, and he opened the scoring in this one with a 482 ft. home run in the first inning.

I’ll tell you what, the crack of the bat on this one was really loud.

Escaping from trouble

Rockies pitchers found themselves in trouble at various points in this game. Starter Chi Chi González created some trouble for himself by working together with Daniel Murphy to botch a play where he was covering first base in the fifth inning. The bases were loaded but he escaped further damage.

Then Bryan Shaw - yes, that Bryan Shaw - loaded the bases in the seventh inning and survived with serious help from Carlos Estevez, who came in and got two huge strikeouts. Finally, it was Jairo Diaz in the final innings with the tying run on base twice and still earning the save. That was a two-inning save for good measure.

This was a really well pitched game, even with those traffic jams on the bases. The Rockies only issued one walk collectively and were tough in those high-leverage situations. And I’ll tell you what, I’m sure Chi Chi isn’t in the team’s long-term plans, but he’ll be around next season if he keeps this up.

Nolan did this too

There’s always time to enjoy another Arenado highlight.

Looking ahead

The Rockies continue this series with the Cardinals on Wednesday. Antonio Senzatela will start for the Rockies against Dakota Hudson for the Cardinals.