Almonte flawless as Rockies down Diamondbacks

The Colorado Rockies earned their second win of Spring Training on the back of Yency Almonte’s perfect three innings of relief.

The Rockies, now at 2-5, routed the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-3, keynoted by Almonte’s performance and a five-run outburst in the top of the ninth from the subs.

Tyler Anderson threw the first two innings of the game in his 2018 Cactus League debut. He allowed one run on two hits and a walk, inducing a pair of inning-ending groundballs. Of his 30 pitches, 19 were for strikes.

In the third inning, however, the ball was turned over to Almonte, who was lights out in his first win of the spring. With Arizona’s bonafide big-leaguers still in the game, Almonte did not allow a baserunner. He tallied a pair of strikeouts, including a four-pitch, 0-2 count knockout of David Peralta and a K of Paul Goldschmidt, getting him to swing through a 96 mph fastball for the last strike. As he tries to force his way into the conversation for one of the final spots on the MLB roster, handily managing a perennial MVP candidate during a clean outing will only improve his stock and value to manager Bud Black. He now boasts a 1.80 ERA after his first two appearances of camp.

Following Almonte, Brooks Pounders threw a one-two-three sixth inning on a pair of infield pop ups and a fly out. Jesus Tinoco pitched 1.2 innings after that, yielding a pair of runs on a Rey Fuentes home run in the seventh, and Austin House allowed a single in an otherwise undamaged final four outs.

With the sticks, the rout wasn’t on until DBacks bullpen-hopeful Jake Buchanan failed to retire any of the seven hitters he faced in the final frame. After six consecutive singles followed by a walk, the Rockies’ subs had scored five runs and ended Buchanan’s outing.

David Dahl failed to record a hit in his three plate appearances, and is still looking for his first base knock of camp after five games played. However, his competitor in vying for a corner outfield job, Raimel Tapia, collected two hits in his three trips to the plate including a double, adding a run and an RBI. He is hitting .333 through 15 at-bats thus far.

As he continues to audition for the starting job at first base (though playing in Nolan Arenado’s typical spot today), Ryan McMahon pulled a double to right and scored a run, going one-for-two overall, perfectly in line with his .500 batting average in Spring Training.

Tom Murphy hit a home run in the second as he vies to be Chris Iannetta’s backup, who went 0-for-2 in the game.

The Rockies will travel tomorrow to take on the Chicago Cubs and their new ace, Yu Darvish. Colorado will counter with German Marquez as both make their 2018 debuts.