The Sim Rockies have now won two games in a row! If they win tomorrow, that’ll be a winning streak!
All things considered, it was not an easy win, but a win’s a win.
Pitchers duel
For the first four innings, it appeared that we were in for a “quick, well-pitched game” in the immortal words of Thomas Harding. Minus the top of first and the bottom of the fourth, both Gonzalezes — Gio and Chi Chi — faced the minimum through three full innings. The top of the fifth was good for Gio as well, as he only gave up a single to Elias Díaz but then struck out Josh Fuentes. Gio struck out nine Rockies in total, including five in a row in the third and fourth innings.
Chi Chi pitched toe-to-toe with Gio for most of the game, but the wheels fell off for him in the fifth when he gave up a three-run homer to Nomar Mazara followed by a double to Yasmani Grandal, who was knocked in by Leury García on a sacrifice fly off of Jeff Hoffman.
Gio pitched one more inning and gave up a two-run homer to Charlie Blackmon, but followed it up with two fly outs to Trevor Story and Daniel Murphy.
Offense starting to emerge
The Sim Rockies offense performed well tonight. Charlie Blackmon got the homer to begin the comeback and despite some setbacks (i.e., a Grandal solo homer in the seventh), they were able to keep crawling back and eventually win the game in extras off the bat of Trevor Story.
On a day when Nolan Arenado had the day off (minus a pinch hit [walk] appearance in the ninth), the Sim Rockies combined for 12 hits. On the flip side, the Sim White Sox had ten.
Charlie Blackmon went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, two RBI, and two runs scored. Ryan McMahon went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored as the DH. Trevor Story went 2-for-5 with the game-winning home run, an RBI, and a run scored. Elias Díaz also went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Bullpen locked in
Despite bullpen struggles in recent games, the Sim Rockies bullpen locked down the Sim Sox down the stretch. Jeff Hoffman came into the game down 3-0 in the fourth with no outs and gave up a sacrifice fly, but had bookend groundouts on either side of it.
Recently recalled Joe Harvey looked spectacular, pitching a 1-2-3 sixth with two strikeouts. Carlos Estévez gave up the solo homer to Grandal in the seventh to make the game 5-3, but got his other three batters out.
James Pazos, Jake McGee, and Tyler Kinley combined to finish out the game. They combined for three innings, three hits, one walk, and one strikeout. Things got a little hairy in the tenth when Kinley came in to save (he gave up a leadoff single and then threw a ball into center field instead of into Owings’ glove for an out). But then he sent down the next three batters to close it out and earn the save.
Game Video
If you wish to catch the action from Tuesday’s game, check it out on Ben Kouchnerkavich’s YouTube channel and make sure to subscribe for alerts to future games!
Up Next
Purple Row will be broadcasting as the Sim Rockies look for the two-game sweep and four-game season split with the Sim South Siders. Jon Gray will go up against Sox righty Reynaldo López. First pitch is at 12:15pm MT, see you then!