It only took until the second inning for Sam Hilliard’s bat to crank out his sixth home run of the season — his fourth in the last three games — and put the Sim Rockies on the score board early in an Interleague win against the Sim Royals, 5-2.
A battle of the bats
Colorado’s offense continued its hot streak with the bats of Daniel Murphy, Trevor Story and Drew Butera. Murphy recorded his 18th double of the year to give the Sim Rockies a 2-0 lead to end the third.
The Sim Royals answered with some ‘solar power’ from Jorge Soler, who drove in a two-run home run to tie the game 2-2 in the fourth. Trevor Story, who did not start todays game (Garrett Hampson started a shortstop), pinch hit in the fifth and hit his 19th home run this season off the first pitch he saw from Heath Fillmyer.
Arenado’s bat silent...hopefully not for long
A bat that we’re not used to being silent is Nolan Arenado who went 0-for-4 at the plate. He was picked up by Butera, who added an RBI double in the eighth. That gave the Sim Rockies an insurance run to cap the score at 5-2 heading into the ninth inning.
Arenado’s season slash prior to this game was .340/.418/.656 with 22 home runs and 54 RBIs, so let’s hope that this was just an off game for him.
Pitching rotation may be finding it’s groove
Chi Chi González added four strong innings for the Sim Rockies, and Fillmyer followed with four innings for the Sim Royals. Both pitchers topped 95 mph on the radar gun.
Jeff Hoffman collected the win for the Sim Rockies, improving his season to 5-0. Fillymer (5-7) picked up the loss for the Sim Royals.
After a week away from the mound, Scott Oberg almost had a 1-2-3 ninth inning, with two straight strike outs and a quick ground out to earn his 10th save of the season and secure the Sim Rockies 5-2 win.
Up next
This win gives the Sim Rockies a two-game winning streaking with two more games left in the Sim Royals series before heading north to face the first place AL Sim Minnesota Twins. Evan Grills (4-0, 3.24 ERA) will take the mound for the Sim Rockies in Game 2 against the Sim Royals’ Brad Keller (2-7, 5.13 ERA). There won’t be a broadcast, but check back to Purple Row for the recap!