Rockies snap slump with route of Phils

One way to mitigate the bullpen issues the Colorado Rockies have experienced lately is to score seven runs and have your starter pitch seven innings of one-run baseball.

Tyler Anderson, once again, gave the ‘pen just two innings to work. And this time the lead held up for a 7-2 win over the Phillies that snapped a five-game losing streak.

The Rockies got on the board in the first, something they’ve been phenomenal at in 2018. It certainly helps that the lineup begins with DJ LeMahieu, Charlie Blackmon, and Nolan Arenado. The first two singled to open the game, LeMahieu moving to third on Blackmon’s base hit, and Arenado delivered a sac fly to make sure the early chance didn’t go to waste as it did in the first game.

But Phillies starter Nick Pivetta then proceeded to cruise through some easy innings, at one point striking out five straight hitters, and it looked like the Rockies offense might fall silent after the early noise.

But a huge five-run fourth inning put those concerns to rest.

It started with Arenado continuing to show his willingness to take walks as teams across baseball stay careful with him, giving Colorado a leadoff runner. Carlos Gonzalez then made a smart play in bunting against the shift, laying one easily down the third base line with no chance for a play at first.

Trevor Story kept his bat hot by scorching a double off the very top of the wall in right field, scoring Arenado. After a mound visit, Gerardo Parra pulled a single through the right side, scoring both Gonzalez and Story.

Still with nobody out, Ian Desmond delivered a body blow by smashing a two-run homer to almost the exact same spot (just a bit farther) that Story’s double hit.

Oddly enough, after one more base hit, a single from Tom Murphy, Pivetta was able to record three consecutive outs to end the parade of runs.

Anderson, who was already throwing an insane number of pitches in the strike zone—including every single pitch of the first—now had even more incentive to stay aggressive with the six-run lead. Though, he might have wanted to throw one out of the zone on an 0-2 cutter that caught way too much plate and was belted for a solo shot by Jorge Alfaro to get the Phillies on the board.

But the Rockies even got that one back on an RBI double from Story in the seventh.

Jake McGee issued a walk but otherwise worked a clean inning in the eighth.

Harrison Musgrave, in his return from the bereavement list, gave up a two-out home run to Jesmuel Valentin but struck out two and never allowed a semblance of the recent collapses in finishing off the game.