DENVER – In one of their more complete all-around performances of the season, the Colorado Rockies cruised to an 11-3 win over the Miami Marlins thanks to an offense that remains as hot as the surface of the sun and the kind of pitching performance that Jon Gray should seek to emulate each and every time out.
There was some brilliant defense, mostly from Trevor Story at shortstop, and some timely hitting, and perhaps the best news for Colorado faithful was that the bullpen was hardly needed did just fine.
Ian Desmond got the big rally started (something he has been exceptional at lately) with a line drive single to center. He scored the go-ahead run on a groundball double Carlos Gonzalez hit away from the shift down the left side. Noel Cuevas followed that with a single and Gray executed a perfect safety squeeze that not only scored Gonzalez but allowed him to reach base as well.
DJ LeMahieu plated another run with a sac fly and with two outs, Charlie Blackmon put together one of the finest at-bats you re likely to see, fouling off a series of tough sliders before getting the fastball that he lined softly into center.
Nolan Arenado then blew it all open by launching his 17th home run of the season, and fourth in four games. The Rockies would add later but that outburst put the game away.
Gray gave up a single and a double with one out in the first but worked out of it with a nice strikeout of power hitter Justin Bour before getting Starlin Castro to lineout, finally avoiding giving up any first-inning runs.
The Rockies got on the board in the second thanks to a Desmond single and a Tom Murphy double.
The Marlins tied it up on an opposite-field home run from Derek Dietrich who just threw the bat at an offspeed pitch away from him, narrowly hitting the liner over the wall in left.
But Colorado burst out with their huge inning in the fourth to take a commanding 7-1 lead.
Gray cruised after the third, scattering four singles on his way to a seven-inning, 12-strikeout performance, giving up just the one run on a total of eight hits. He did not walk a batter.
The Rockies added three in the seventh, and for the third time in the game, Desmond started it, this time with his seventh walk in the last three games. He moved up on yet another Murphy double. Gonzalez was intentionally walked in the ensuing at-bat and Cuevas hit into a force out at home.
But Gerardo Parra, the Rockies hottest non-Arenado hitter for the last month, came through with a big pinch-hit double to clear the bases and give the Rockies a 10-1 lead.
He was replaced in the eighth by rookie Yency Almonte, coming off his MLB debut a day ago. Almonte pitched well but ran into some bad luck on a LeMahieu error that opened up the frame. He then walked a batter and gave up a hit with two unearned runs coming in, but he never looked rattled and was able to finish the frame with a punchout.
Colorado’s final insurance run came in the eighth thanks to a Story double and a Murphy single up the middle.
Brooks Pounders pitched the final frame and gave up a double but nothing more to end the game about as peacefully as Rockies fans recent memory could fathom.
Colorado improved to 38-38, 15-20 at home, and are at least momentarily tied with the Giants for third place in the NL West, 4.5 games back of first.
Final Stats:
Jon Gray: 7 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 12 K
Yency Almonte: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Nolan Arenado: 3-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI
Carlos Gonzalez: 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 BB
Ian Desmond: 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 BB
Tom Murphy: 3-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Charlie Blackmon: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI
Noel Cuevas: 1-for-4, 2 R
DJ LeMahieu: 0-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB
What’s Next:
The Rockies aim for their fifth straight win and to get back above .500 on Saturday afternoon. Tyler Anderson will face off against Trevor Richards with the first pitch at 1:10 Mountain Time.
