Rockies 7, Diamondbacks 6: The Rockies’ offense comes through

The Rockies’ offense showed up for the second straight game as the back end of the bullpen held on to secure a 7-6 victory.

Brendon Rodgers gets first hit

It wasn’t pretty, but Brendon Rodgers got his first hit of the year after being activated from the injured list on Friday. With two runners in scoring position and two outs in the fourth inning, Rodgers was able to put his bat on the ball in the hopes that something good might happen. And something good did happen: the blooper fell in front of Arizona right fielder Josh Rojas. C.J. Cron and Josh Fuentes came around to score.

Sometimes getting that first hit can loosen up a hitter. Rodgers would line a single to right field in his next official at-bat.

Top of the sixth inning troubles

With a 3-0 lead, Antonio Senzatela opened the sixth inning by falling behind to the only three hitters he faced. He ultimately allowed them to reach on a single, single and double. Bud Black would then make the decision to remove the laboring right-hander in favor of Tyler Kinley. Kinley did his job by inducing a ground ball that was booted by Cron and then retiring the next three hitters, but the two inherited runners did score and Kinley has now allowed 7 of 11 inherited baserunners to score on the season. Senzatela finished with a line of 5+ IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, and 3 K.

Big bottom of the sixth

After the Rockies allowed three runs in the top of the sixth, Trevor Story led off the bottom half with a double down the left field line followed by Charlie Blackmon taking Madison Bumgarner deep. C.J. Cron and Josh Fuentes then had very different looking back-to-back doubles that both just eluded the gloves of the D-Back defenders. After Rodgers was hit by a pitch, Garrett Hampson grounded into a fielder’s choice.

A passed ball would allow another run to score. When the dust settled, the Rockies had scored four runs to take a 7-3 lead.

Raimel Tapia with the clutch play of the day

The top of the seventh inning began with Yency Almonte giving up a single, double, home run, and four-pitch walk before being removed. Mychal Givens came on in relief of Almonte and luckily got the first batter he faced to line into a double play before allowing a double and two walks before he was removed. Finally, Carlos Estévez came on to face pinch hitter Andrew Young, who looped a ball to short left field. Raimel Tapia charged hard before laying out and making the catch to save at least two runs from scoring. The catch preserved the 7-6 lead for the home team.

Up next

Jon Gray and the Colorado Rockies take on Taylor Widener and the Diamondbacks at Coors Field on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 MDT. The Rockies will look to complete the sweep while the D-Backs look to end their seven-game losing streak.