Rockies 14, Diamondbacks 6: The offense shows up in a big way

The Rockies offense was clicking on all cylinders as what looked to be a close game for most of the night turned into a blowout late. The relentless bats just kept coming as the Rockies ended up facing not one, but two Arizona position players in the eighth and ninth innings. The rout was on and the Rockies cruised to a 14-6 victory.

Story Time returns to where it all began

Trevor Story announced his presence in the big leagues five years ago at Chase Field in Arizona, hitting four home runs in the opening series of the 2016 season. Tonight, Story looked happy to be back, going 3-for-5 and coming a triple shy of the cycle as he drove in two and scored four times. In the sixth inning, Trevor got under the ball and seemed like he just missed it, but the thin air of Arizona allowed the ball to carry and we saw a typical Chase Field home run for Story as a result.

Top of the lineup delivers (and so does the middle and bottom)

There have been some lineup shakeups of late with Charlie Blackmon being moved around and Bud Black trying to find the winning combination at the top of the order. Tonight, Raimel Tapia got things going as he went 4-for-6 and set the table for Story, hitting second, and McMahon (2-for-4), who was in the three-hole this evening. When the top three guys in the lineup are all getting on base and hitting for power, it spells good things for an offense and keeps the opponent on their heels. Overall on the night, those three guys accounted for seven runs scored and seven RBI on nine hits.

The top three weren’t the only productive slots in the lineup, though, as all eight starting position players contributed a hit. The resurgent Blackmon had two hits and has finally climbed over the Mendoza line for the season. Dom Núñez provided the exclamation point on the game with a grand slam in the eighth inning, officially breaking the game open and making it a 14-5 game.

Austin Gomber does enough

Gomber would likely tell you he didn’t have his best game tonight. He did, however, stop the bleeding when necessary and kept the Rockies in it through his six innings of work. I’m a sucker for the big looping left-handed curveball and it was a pleasure to watch Gomber utilize his the way he did against the D-Back hitters. He threw it in all counts and did a good job of keeping the Arizona bats guessing by changing speeds and dropping the curveball into all parts of the strike zone. He finished his evening with two earned runs allowed on five hits while striking out four and allowing just one walk over the course of six innings.

Up next

Chi Chi Gonzalez (1-0, 3.60 ERA) takes the ball for the Rockies against Merrill Kelly (2-2, 6.33 ERA) and the Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 2:10pm MDT at Chase Field. The Rockies will look to salvage a split of the four game set in Arizona.