Arenado's clutch homer salvages Gray's gem, Rockies avoid sweep in Milwaukee

Absolutely nothing has come easy for the Colorado Rockies since embarking on this road trip to the NL Central. Having been walked off on three times in five games, they looked primed to suffer the fate again. Blowing yet another save, the club was bailed out by the King of Clutch, Nolan Arenado, who launched his 29th home run of the season in the top of the 11th, the decisive blow in a 5-4 win for Colorado over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Other than salvaging a game in the series and on the trip, Arenado’s blast and newcomer Seunghwan Oh’s guts in the bottom of the 11th meant that their starting pitcher’s brilliant effort would not go unrewarded.

Jon Gray has been through a lot this season. In fact, reaching back to last year’s Wild Card game, Gray has had difficulty finding a rhythm and his confidence.

But after a remarkably brief two-game stint in Triple-A to help him clear his mind and clean his mechanics, The Wolf Of Blake Street has been simply dominant.

It didn’t look like the game would go his way early, but ultimately he strung together arguably his most impressive start of the season considering the circumstances and competition. Pitching eight innings (99 pitches) of one-run baseball in which he got stronger as the game went on, he pitched efficiently and effectively, striking out eight and walking two, surrendering just one.

It is his fourth consecutive outing going at least seven innings and the fifth time in his last six starts. Since returning, he has 1.51 ERA and has struck out 25 and walked just seven over 29.2 innings of work.

Gray did not start out sharp, leaving pitches up in the zone in the first few innings. In the very first at-bat, he hung a breaking ball to the hottest hitter in baseball, Christian Yelich, but was saved by a tremendous leaping catch in left-center by Ian Desmond, possibly taking away a home run.

It was impressive on its own but even more so when you consider he has mostly played first base this season and hadn’t played in the outfield in over a month.

The Brewers did manage to get on the board in the second when Travis Shaw obliterated another hanger, driving it far enough over the right-center field fence that Charlie Blackmon would have needed rocket boosters to catch it.

Wade Miley kept the Rockies offense in check until the fifth.

DJ LeMahieu got his first hit since returning from the DL, slashing a one-out double down the left field line. Nolan Arenado then drew an intentional walk in front of Trevor Story’s 24th home run of the year and third multi-run homer in the last two games.

He turned on a cutter that was decently located and ripped a line drive that stayed up just long enough to clear the wall in left, giving Colorado a 3-1 lead.

Milwaukee threatened to respond in the bottom half of the fifth. Ryan Brauns singled on a ball that Arenado knocked down at third but could not locate in time to make a throw. After getting a pair of quick outs, but allowing Braun to swipe second, Gray walked Orlando Arcia to put runners at the corners.

Craig Counsel decided to play his power card early, taking Miley out and inserting Jesus Aguilar with a chance to take the lead with one big swing. But Gray worked ahead of Aguilar and got him to hit a routine groundout to Story at short, ending the rally.

Again in the sixth, the Brewers found some traffic against the Wolf, but once again Gray was able to work out of it. Unable to keep him down for long, Yelich singled to right and moved up on a one-out walk from Mike Moustakas.

Gray bounced back with one of his better sequences of the game, striking out Shaw who had taken him deep earlier in this game and also the last time these teams played each other in Denver. Yelich took advantage of Gray failing to pay attention to the runners again, stealing third without a throw but the Rockies starter kept his cool and induced a groundball to third, getting a nifty spinning throw from Arenado to again strand a pair of Milwaukee base runners.

The Rockies had a chance to add in the seventh, getting Blackmon aboard via walk and LeMahieu on because of a defensive miscue from Jonathan Schoop. But Arenado struck out, Story lined out, and Carlos Gonzalez ground out to second, leaving them where they stood.

Gray struck out the side, getting pinch-hitter Lorenzo Cain along with Yelich and Eric Thames, in the eighth.

Colorado got an insurance run in the top of the ninth… but almost didn’t. LeMahieu drew a one-out walk and advanced on an Arenado single to left. With runners at first and third, Story hit a grounder at the shortstop that was initially ruled an inning-ending double play. But replay revealed that Story beat the relay throw at first. The call was overturned and the Rockies got their fourth run of the game.

Story drove in all four runs for Colorado until Arenado in extras.

With Wade Davis unavailable with his heavy recent workload, Adam Ottavino was handed the baseball in the ninth and immediately gave up a solo home run to Mike Moustakas. He bounced back to get a weak groundout from Shaw but catcher Tom Murphy was called for his second interference play in recent memory, allowing Braun to reach first, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Jonathan Schoop.

Braun once again stole second without any resistance from the Rockies but Otto struck out Schoop looking, leaving it up to Erik Kratz… or so one would assume. Ottavino struck out Kratz on a slider in the dirt that got away from Murphy, allowing him to reach base. Suddenly, without having recorded a hit or even a walk, the Brewers had runners at the corners with two away, the tying run at first.

Orlando Arcia stepped in and fell behind 1-2 but jumped on a slider that was hung, hitting a soft liner to left that scored Braun and allowed Kratz to reach third. Now with the winning run in scoring position, Hernan Perez who was 9-for-18 against Colorado this season, came to the plate. But he wouldn’t even need to deliver a hit… again… as Otto unleashed a wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score.

He did bounce back to strike out Perez, but the blown save and been completed.

It was their fourth blown save in the last seven games.

David Dahl, in his first game back from a broken foott (rehabbing the last few weeks in Triple-A) drew a two-out pinch-hit walk in the top of the tenth and stole second but Ryan McMahon, also in a pinch-hit appearance, struck out to strand him there.

Scott Oberg came on in the bottom of the 10th and surrendered a leadoff single to Yelich, which usually (especially lately) proves to be a bad omen. But he got Thames to fly out and got Moustakas to ground into an inning-ending double play featuring some nice footwork from Story.

After retiring Blackmon and LeMahieu with relative ease, Cory Knebel challenged Arenado with a 3-2 fastball and lost the challenge.

Seunghwan Oh came on in the bottom of the 11th and naturally gave up a leadoff single to Shaw. He got Braun to fly out to center but gave up another first-pitch single to Schoop, putting two on with one away.

Kratz strolled to the plate again and hit a chopper to first. Desmond fired to second and the relay from Story pulled Oh off the bag, but the 36-year-old reliever made an athletic play both to catch it and, upon another review, tap the bag with his foot to secure his first save as a Rockie and somehow, someway, salvage this win.

Final Stats:

Jon Gray: 8 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

Adam Ottavino: 1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

Scott Oberg: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Seunghwan Oh: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 ER

Nolan Arenado: 3-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, HR (29)

Trevor Story: 1-for-5, 1 R, 4 RBI (HR: 24)

DJ LeMahieu: 2-for-4, 2 R

What’s Next:

The Rockies return home for a three-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. They will face Joe Musgrove in the first game, sending Kyle Freeland to the hill. First pitch at 6:40 Mountain Time.