Colorado Rockies pitching and defense carry them to first win of 2020

The Colorado Rockies were heavily criticized in the offseason (the first one) for making very few changes to the roster. Time will tell if their track will be the right one, but there is certainly an irony to the fact that a pair of newcomers helped power them to their first win of 2020.

Matt Kemp, making his first start at DH for the Rox, drove in the first run of the season for his new squad. And Daniel Bard made an inspiring return to MLB at a vital time to help secure a 3-2 win over the Texas Rangers despite an excellent outing from starter Mike Minor.

Moment of the Game

Going into the fourth, the Rockies had just one hit and were 12 innings into the season without having scored a run. But their strategy of working counts and seeing a ton of pitches finally paid off beginning with an excellent one-out walk from Nolan Arenado who, at that point, had the only hit in the game.

Minor got Charlie Blackmon to roll one over into what looked like an inning-ending double play. Second baseman Rougned Odor couldn’t get the ball out of his glove, though, and not only were the Rangers unable to convert the twin killing but nobody was covering third and Arenado wisely sprinted to advance.

With runners at the corner and one away, Kemp lofted a soft single just fair down the right field line to score the first run of the game and season for the Rockies.

Ryan McMahon the engaged Minor in another long battle, hitting the eighth pitch of the at-bat hard back up the middle. The Rangers southpaw did a nice job to knock the ball down but rather than take the more likely out, he tried to make a great play by throwing home. A perfect throw might’ve gotten Blackmon but the throw was off line and the second run of the inning crossed the plate.

Finally with some room to celebrate, the Rockies still missed an opportunity when Chris Owings and Garrett Hampson stuck out with some ugly swings to strand runners at second and third.

On the Mound

Jon Gray didn’t have his best stuff be worked through four innings without giving up a hit. But he finally ran into trouble with two outs in the fifth.

Ronald Guzman poked one out into left to keep the inning alive and Gray lost his feel or focus for a moment, walking Jeff Mathis who hit .158 last season. It came back to haunt him when McMahon couldn’t pull in a hard line drive from Choo and Guzman was able to race in to make it a 2-1 game.

Bard then made his first appearance in MLB in seven years and got the final out of the inning with two aboard to preserve the one-run lead.

Carlos Estevez pitched the seventh and loaded the bases with one out after giving up a tough-luck single and a pair of easy walks. But he got a huge strikeout of Danny Santana and an easy flyout from Joey Gallo to end the inning with no harm done.

Jairo Diaz similarly played with fire in the eighth, giving up a leadoff single and plunking a batter, then uncorking a wild pitch to put runners at second and third before recording an out. He went to his wicked slider though and got some silly swings in back-to-back strikeouts of Guzman and Willie Calhoun.

Wade Davis kept the flirtations with disaster alive by walking a batter and catching a bad break on a swinging bunt from Gallo that went right into the empty space created by the shift.

Odor came to the plate, representing the tying run and giving Rockies fan flashbacks to one of the worst losses of 2018, but Davis unleashed a couple of fantastic knuckle curveballs then painted the low outside corner with a fastball for the strikeout to end the game.

Diamond Details

• Hampson made a brilliant catch on the first play of the game, robbing Shin-Soo Choo of extra bases and maybe a home run in left field. Remember, he just started playing outfield in Spring Training of last year.
• Two sterling defensive plays helped Gray out in the 4th. Evlis Andrus tried to swipe second after walking and the throw from Butera was well off line but an athletic jumping-sweep-tag from Story got the out anyway. McMahon snagged a hot shot from Odor to end the frame.
• David Dahl picked up another single. He’s hitting .444 in the first two games and has a 12-game hitting streak going back to last season, the longest in the Bigs.
• Nolan Arenado went 1-for-2 with a pair of walks, showcasing his and the team’s renewed commitment to driving up pitch counts.
• After getting Opening Day starter Lance Lynn to throw over 100 pitches in 6 innings, the Rockies offense forced Minor to throw 98 pitches in five frames on Saturday

What’s Next

Colorado will aim for the series win on Sunday but they’ve got their hands full. The pitching match-up sees two players who have been in the Cy Young conversation looking to bounce back after disastrous 2019 campaigns. Cory Kluber for the Rangers has a much longer resume to call upon but may be on the downturn of his career. Kyle Freeland will look to begin to prove a lot of doubters wrong.

First pitch at 12:35 Mountain Time.