Diamondbacks dismantle Rockies 11-6, finish off sweep

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The Colorado Rockies finished off their embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks with an 11-6 loss on Wednesday night in the desert.

Charlie Blackmon led the game off with a beautiful eight-pitch at-bat resulting in his 27th home run of the season. It was pretty much all downhill for the Rockies from there.

Jeff Hoffman got off to a rough start. As has become a Rockies custom, he allowed a lead-off home run to Jean Segura who has absolutely been on fire as of late. He gave up a second run on another familiar sight — a Yasmany Tomas double — but he really settled down after that. Well, for a while anyway.

Hoffman more or less skated through the next three innings, showing the good fastball/curveball combination he had become known for as a prospect and racking up the strikeouts. But he seemed to run out of gas in the fifth — remember, it’s been a long post-Tommy-John-surgery season for the young pitcher — and he got tagged for it.

Segura struck again with his second home run of the game, this time a twofer, to make it 4-1 Arizona. Then rookie catcher Tom Murphy dropped a throw from first baseman Mark Reynolds that would have nailed Jake Lamb at the plate. A line drive double from Brandon Drury and a single by Socrates Brito gave the Diamondbacks another and when the fifth was finally over, it was 6-1 Arizona.

Hoffman’s final line: 4.2, 8 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.

Daniel Descalso made it a four-run game with a two-out, two-run home run in the top of the eighth. But even the two-run betterment was close lived, Arizona getting a pair themselves in the bottom of the frame on Chris Owing’s third home run of the year. The no-doubter came off of Christian Bergman.

The Rockies got three back in the seventh, though. Blackmon led off with a triple and came in on a DJ LeMahieu single. Arenado singled, moving LeMahieu to third, and CarGo matched Arenado with the same feat but in a strange way since Gonzalez was given a free swing on a balk.

Either way, LeMahieu scored and Arenado moved to third, coming in on a sac fly from Gerardo Parra to make it 9-6, Arizona.

Of course, Arizona got one back in the bottom of the inning, on a passed ball no less, and Drury hit his 14th home run off of Carlos Estevez in the eighth to bring us to our final score of 11-6.

By the Numbers

265 – In 19 games between these two teams in 2016, a grand total of 265 runs have been scored which is the most in a season series since 1969.

19 – The Rockies scored 19 runs in this series and still managed to get swept. The top four in the lineup (Blackmon, LeMahieu, Arenado, Gonzalez) combined to hit .531 (25-47) and score 16 runs and drive in 12. That’s a whole lot of wasted offensive firepower.

10 – Jeff Hoffman has oddly been the victim of 10 unearned runs combined over his last two starts.

9 – Charlie Blackmon‘s leadoff home run was his ninth dinger of that variety in 2016 and also extended his career high to 27 on the season.

7 – Daniel Descalso’s two-run home run in the sixth was his seventh of the year, extending his career high. Four of his seven homers have come against Arizona. It was also Descalso’s fourth home run in the last nine games.

4 – Jean Segura recorded his second straight game with at least four hits, also recording four home runs over those two games.

What’s Next

After a day off tomorrow, the Rockies return home for a three-game set with the San Diego Padres. The former Rockies who dominated his old club last time out, Christian Friedrich, will take on Tyler Chatwood. First pitch at 6:40 MST.