The Colorado Rockies defeated the Oakland Athletics Saturday night at Coors Field, 4-1 to take a 2-0 series lead.
The Athletics scored the first run of the ballgame in the first inning off of Rockies’ starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela. Nick Martini started the ballgame with a double that was followed by a single from Matt Chapman. From there, Martini was initially thrown out when trying score on a fly-ball hit by Khris Davis. After initially being called out in a bang-bang play at the plate, a review overturned the call to give Oakland an early 1-0 lead.
The Rockies scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning which started with a double from Carlos Gonzalez. Catcher Tom Murphy then followed with a triple center field, scoring a run to tie the game at a run apiece. Later in the inning, Pat Valiaka hit a RBI single which gave the Rockies a 2-1 lead.
The Rockies added an additional run in the following inning when Nolan Arenado blasted his 27th home run of the season, putting the Rockies ahead 3-1.
Valiaka furthered the Rockies lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when he hit a solo home run to center field.
Past the fourth inning, neither team scored a run as the Rockies pitchers held the red-hot Athletics in check en route to the victory.
Senzatela logged 5.2 innings allowing one run on five hits while striking out six batters and issuing four walks.
Jake McGee, the newly acquired Seung-Hwan Oh, Scott Oberg, Adam Ottavino, and Wade Davis all secured the victory for Colorado out of the bullpen.
The win improved the Rockies record to 56-47 on the year and they are a half game back for the second wild card.
The Rockies and Athletics will conclude their series Sunday afternoon at a Coors Field with first pitch set for 1:10 MST.
