Nolan Arenado played hero yet again and the Colorado Rockies walked away 4-3 winners in a high-drama game at Coors Field to open their three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arenado drove in a pair of runs with a go-ahead, one-out triple in the bottom of the eighth inning to stave off the hard-charging D-Backs, who had won seven straight games entering Tuesday’s contest. The Rockies are now winners of six in a row and maintain control of first place in the NL West with the win.
Rockies starter German Marquez left the game with the lead, pitching six innings of one-run baseball on four hits and two base on balls. The rookie right-hander struck out three, leaving four Diamondbacks on base. But it was all for naught after Chris Rusin and Adam Ottavino gave up back-to-back home runs to open the eighth inning to David Peralta and Paul Goldschmidt on back-to-back pitches. Ottavino (1-1, 3.08 ERA) settled down, though and retired the next three hitters to keep things a one-run game and eventually earn the win.
After giving up solo runs in the second and fourth innings, Diamondbacks starter Zack Greinke (8-4, 3.14) settled down nicely to retire 11 consecutive Rockies before Colorado rallied in the eighth to regain the lead. Charlie Blackmon went the other way with a single to left field, which DJ LeMahieu followed with a hit in the same direction. That set the stage for Arenado’s go-ahead triple. On the night, Arenado had a pair of hits and the two most important RBIs of the game. Carlos Gonzalez hit a solo home run off Greinke as part of a 2-for-4 effort; he also robbed Peralta of extra bases and an RBI with a diving catch to end the fifth inning.
The drama didn’t end in the eighth inning, though. After getting former Rockie Daniel Descalso to pop out to open the inning, Greg Holland issued a four-pitch walk and threw a wild pitch to move the potential tying run to second base. Holland earned an important strikeout of pinch-hitter Jeremy Hazelbaker, then made an outstanding defensive play to earn the final out of the game. Holland went back across the mound to the third-base side and made a strong throw to get Gregor Blanco at first base to end the game and earn his 25th save on the year.
Colorado and Arizona continue their series on Wednesday night when Jeff Hoffman (4-0, 2.25) and Taijuan Walker (5-3, 3.32) square off in a battle of talented 24-year-old right-handers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. MDT.
