Nol-my-God: Arenado stays nuclear for Rox to knock off Snakes

DENVER – For the second straight game, Nolan Arenado came to the plate in the late innings with the game on the line, one swing having the potential to change the outcome of the game. And for the second straight game, Nolan Arenado did, in fact, change the outcome of the game with one swing. In the first game of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, hot on the Rockies heels in the NL West, the skies opened up for some red rain and a little late lightning, and the home team used their typical formula of fantastic pitching from a rookie, elite defense, and clutch hitting from their star to secure a 4-3 win.

Coming into Tuesday night’s contest, Diamondbacks starter, 33-year-old Zack Greinke, had thrown 2343.1 innings at the MLB level, Rockies starter, 22-year-old German Marquez had thrown 74.1.

Marquez worked well throughout the game, if not especially efficiently. He buried his sinker in on righties and away from lefties, inducing a ton of weak contact, allowing just one run on four hits over six innings. He pitched to his defense, which is — to put it lightly — incredibly good:

.@Tstory2 making plays like nbd pic.twitter.com/87u0lyKA16

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 21, 2017

Ian Desmond created a run out of the remarkably hot, famously thin air in the second. He legged out a swinging bunt toward third, showcasing his versatility, and moved to second on an overthrow from Jake Lamb trying his best to look like Nolan Arenado and failing.

Desmond then pushed the issue, trying to take third on a ball in the dirt, forcing a hurried throw from catcher Jeff Mathis that sailed into left field. After a nice popup slide, Desmond sprinted home to score the first run of the game. Somehow, it was ruled an earned run despite two Arizona errors on his trip around the bases. But if there were separate categories for forced and unforced errors — which there should be — both would have fallen into the former category as Desmond quite literally forced the issue all the way into an all-important first run.

Colorado got another run in the bottom of the fourth on a big solo blast from Carlos Gonzalez, a 449-foot shot over the center field fence. He may have gotten some of that magic from some secret ritual performed by Gerardo Parra though:

No way CarGo homers without Parra pic.twitter.com/A2Cz9640mC

— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) June 21, 2017

Gonzalez also continued to show the magic he can bring with the glove:

#CarGo defining full extension. pic.twitter.com/WLUyLBIuGJ

— MLB (@MLB) June 21, 2017

After Marquez did his job in stifling a team that has been just as hot as the Rockies, Scott Oberg recorded the first two outs of the seventh and Chris Rusin got the final out of that frame and stayed on to face David Peralta in the eighth. Peralta jumped all over a changeup that caught just a little bit too much of the plate, and absolutely crushed it, 455-feet over the right field fence to tie the game at two.

Adam Ottavino came on at that point and gave up an opposite field solo shot to Paul Goldschmidt on the very first pitch he threw, a center-cut fastball. It was Goldschmidt’s 17th big fly of the season.

The Rockies bullpen has given up 11 home runs over their last nine games. They have now blown three saves in their last five games.

But with one out in the bottom of the eighth, Charlie Blackmon delivered a single and DJ LeMahieu did the same, bringing the King of Clutch to the plate with a chance to play hero for the second straight game. And he did, Of course, he did. Arenado lined a triple off the scoreboard in right, scoring both men and giving the Rockies the lead right back after they had lost it on two pitches in the top of the frame.

Again, the Coors Field crowd erupted into chants of “MVP! MVP! MVP!” and stayed on their feet, seemingly until the end of the game.

For the second straight game, Nolan Arenado delivers huge in the clutch and gets organic chants of “MVP! MVP!” here at Coors Field. pic.twitter.com/vKn3hVkR4Y

— BSN Rockies (@BSNRockies) June 21, 2017

Greg Holland came on in the ninth with a one-run lead having struggled his last two times out. He lost command after making the first out, missing way off the plate a few times and walking Chris Herrmann. But he struck out Jeremy Hazelbaker and had to make a good play himself to finish off Gregor Blanco and secure the win and his 25th save in 26 tries.

Colorado moved to 47-26 on the season and stay in first place in the National League.