Gray's dominant return delivers Rockies fifth-straight series win

DENVER – When the Colorado Rockies announced that it would indeed be Opening Day starter Jon Gray who would need to be recalled for Saturday’s matchup with the Seattle Mariners, the news was not exactly met with resounding applause from fans.

But by the time he left the mound in an eventual 4-1 win, the roars from the home faithful that serenaded him off the field were deafening.

The reluctance was justified as Gray didn’t look especially sharp and had only pitched in two games since being sent to Triple-A two weeks ago. But the Wolf’s return to Blake Street reminded everyone in the sellout crowd why this guy was so heavily anticipated when he made his debut in 2015.

In a sterling seven-plus-inning performance, he dominated the M’s, only faltering a bit late, allowing the offense to do their thing. He had given up just two hits going into the eighth and ended up surrendering one run on five hits in one of his most impressive

The Rockies got on the board with an early strike in the second inning.  Trevor Story kept his hot bat aflame by singling to lead off the frame and was able to trot home on Carlos Gonzalez’ 11th home run of the season. He blasted it 455 feet at 110 mph off the bat.

CarGo has been pretty hot himself as of late, hitting .341/.393/.565 in the 38 games preceding this one.

The Mariners got their first hit of the game against Gray in the fourth on a single off the bat of Jean Segura but he was almost immediately erased on the basepaths on a 5-4-3 double play.

Colorado added a pair of runs in the fifth thanks to a Charlie Blackmon single that was followed by an Ian Desmond triple into the right-center field gap. That gave the Rockies a three-run lead and Desmond his 56th RBI of the season. He was able to walk to the plate on a single to center from Nolan Arenado that made it 4-0, Rockies.

After a fan running on the field interrupted the rhythm of the game for a moment in the sixth, Gray shrugged it off and recorded two quick strikeouts and a groundout to get his offense back on the field.

But the game stayed stagnant until the Mariners finally broke through with one out in the eighth. Ben Gamel singled through the right side before Chris Herrmann hit a line drive screamer into the gap in right for an RBI double, by far the hardest hit ball against Gray in the game.

After a pinch-hitting Nelson Cruz reached on a single, manager Bud Black went to Adam Ottavino with runners at first and third and one out. Otto got a weak groundball to third and Herrmann for some reason decided to challenge Arenado, getting caught in a rundown between third and home plate.

Otto struck out Jean Segura, making him look silly for the second straight night, to end the inning with the Rockies up 4-1.

Wade Davis worked a clean ninth to lock down the win.

The Rockies have won their last five series’ and 12 of their last 15 ballgames. They improve to 50-45 overall and remain 2.5 games back of first place in the NL West.

Final Stats:

Jon Gray: 7.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Adam Ottavino: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K

Wade Davis: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, S

Carlos Gonzalez: 1-for-2, 1 R, 2 RBI HR (11)

Ian Desmond: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

Charlie Blackmon: 2-for-4, 1 R

Nolan Arenado: 2-for-4, 1 RBI

What’s Next:

The Rockies aim for the sweep on Sunday afternoon. Tyler Anderson faces off against Mike Leake. First pitch at 1:10 Mountain Time.