John Axford got a shot at redemption on Thursday and, despite some struggles, left Coors Field with a save and a series win for the Rockies over Arizona.
Colorado entered the ninth inning with a 6-2 lead after some late inning offense from Troy Tulowitzki and the rest of the Rockies.
The game was tied until the sixth inning when the teams traded runs, Colorado’s coming off a Nolan Arenado solo home run – his 20th on the year.
Arizona took a 2-1 lead in the seventh on an A.J. Pollock double, but Tulowitzki answered in the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot to tie things up.
The Rockies then manufactured another four runs in the inning including a two-run error by third baseman Aaron Hill that ultimately proved to be the difference in the game.
Boone Logan started the ninth inning as part of a series of defensive switches and surrendered a leadoff walk followed by a base-hit.
Despite blowing his first save of the season on Wednesday night, Axford got the call from manager Walt Weiss with runners on first and third with no outs, counting on him to escape the jam and save the game.
Axford induced an RBI groundout followed by a single, bringing the potential tying run to the plate with one out in the form of Paul Goldschmidt.
The Arizona slugger worked Axford to a full count on a 10-pitch at-bat, finally sending a lineout to left field, scoring Jarod Saltalamacchia.
Axford struck out Yasmany Tomas to end the game. With the save, Axford is now 13 of 14 on the year.
Colorado opens up a weekend series with San Francisco on Friday. First pitch is 8:15 p.m. MDT.
