Freeland and defense put on a clinic in Rockies win over Padres

The Colorado Rockies washed the taste of an ugly loss in the home opener out of their mouths on Saturday night with a decisive and complete win over the San Diego Padres.

The visiting starter Joey Lucchesi could not complete two innings as the Rockies offense remained patient, drove up pitch counts, and made solid contact in key moments.

In the bottom of the second, Garrett Hampson hit liner over short for a single, Chris Owings followed with one to right, and Drew Butera took a solid approach to create a sac fly to right with two strikes. Lucchesi missed a pickoff attempt and Owings raced home. Story drew a walk and Charlie Blackmon singled into shallow right-center to make it 3-0.

That was all they would need but they got a few more in a 6-1 victory.

Player of the Game: Trevor Story

He went 2-for-3 with a walk, a homer, and two remarkable defensive plays. He is hitting .385 on the young season. With his fourth home run and seventh run scored, he stays near the top of the MLB leaderboards in those categories.

Runner up: Kyle Freeland

He scattered just a pair of singles over six innings of efficient work, throwing just 83 pitches on the night. He walked just one batter, struck out four, and was never under any real stress throughout the game.

Moment of the Game: Kemp’s Home Away From Home Becomes His Home

In the bottom of the third, Matt Kemp hit a monster home run to right center field. It was the 282nd homer of his career and his first in a Rockies uniform. He golfed a low fastball at 96 MPH, hitting it 457 feet at 108 MPH off of righty reliever Cal Quantrill.

Not Letting Up

Colorado kept the scoring parade going when Story put one nearly onto the left-field concourse in the bottom of the fourth. Exit velocity: 107 MPH.

They added another run in the bottom of the fifth with a Kemp walk, a Ryan McMahon walk, and Owings’ third single of the game.

Yency Almonte gave up a homer in the eighth, his only blemish on the season the the pitching staff’s only blemish in the game.

Diamond Details

• Story ended the top of the fourth with a stupendous diving catch across his body into the six-hole.
• He ended the sixth with a gorgeous sliding stop and flip to begin a double play.
• In the top of the fifth, Nolan Arenado made circus, over-the-shoulder basket catch in left field foul territory. Even for him, it was one of the better plays of his career.
• He had another fantastic defensive play in the seventh diving up the middle on the shift.
• Yency Almonte pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. He had allowed just one base runner on an infield single over four innings pitched this season but he stayed on for the eighth and gave up a home run to center to Trent Grisham. He finished the frame with a pair of punchouts though in a nice rebound.

What’s Next

The rubber match will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1:10 Mountain Time. Antonio Senzatela looks to build on his strong start and will face off against righty Zach Davies who gave up three runs (two earned) in 5.2 IP against the Giants in his first start this season.