Opening Day rust abundant in first game for Rockies

Breathe it in, folks. Colorado Rockies baseball is back. It didn’t go the way the team’s fans would have hoped, with bloop base hits and bad breaks galore in the blowout 8-2 loss, but the new season is here.

As they begin to celebrate their 25th anniversary, the Rockies opened what might be their most anticipated season at the spot where one of their most exhilarating ended just a short six months before: Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Jon Gray, maybe shaking off some rust and anxiety coming into the game, struggled in the first but recovered over the following innings and did not allow another run (albeit with some help from the bullpen) for the rest of his brief, four inning outing.

In the opening frame, both DJ LeMahieu and Nolan Arenado got their bat heads extended on D-Backs starter Patrick Corbin, pulling a solo home run and line-drive single, respectively. However, all three of Charlie Blackmon, Trevor Story and Carlos Gonzalez went down on strikes in the frame. Corbin would keep the Rockies off the scoreboard for the next four innings, allowing four baserunners in that time. He would end with eight strikeouts to one walk and two earned runs.

It was not the start that Gray, looking to rebound from his catastrophic outing in the 2017 Wild Card game, was looking for. In October, he allowed three runs before recording out. On Opening Day some fans were calling deja vu as he gave up a pair on a two-run double off the center field wall by Jake Lamb with the bases loaded and no outs. In the frame, he lacked command, leaving pitches over the middle of the plate and issuing a walk to Paul Goldschmidt on six pitches. He did close out the inning with a 91 mph slider on the outside edge to catch Nick Ahmed swinging.

In the second inning, Gray rebounded well, inducing a trio of ground balls to second base consecutively on 13 pitches.

To start the third, by decision from the coaching staff or himself, he opted to abandon the full windup and pitch from the stretch. The early returns were good, giving A.J. Pollock a slow walk back to the bench on a slider and popping up Goldschmidt on the next pitch. Lamb then grounded out to first, where Ian Desmond executed a slick pick up and took it to the bag himself to complete Gray’s second consecutive 1-2-3 inning, and retired nine in a row before a lead off infield single in the bottom of the fourth by Ketel Marte.

After escaping that inning unscathed, he would falter again in the fifth, allowing a hit and two walks to the one-two-three hitters in the Arizona lineup to start the frame before being pulled by Bud Black. His relief, Chris Rusin, inherited perhaps the worst situation possible for an incoming reliever: bases loaded, nobody out and the game on the verge of getting out of hand.

But, Rusin picked up right where he left off last season. A strikeout of Lamb, a nice catch from Gonzalez in competition with some fans and a weak groundball, and the threat was neutralized.

Feeling the momentum shift, Arenado turned on a Corbin delivery to lead off the sixth with a home run to left and draw the Rockies within one.

However, as valiant as Rusin’s fifth inning was, his sixth was unlucky. After losing an eight pitch battle to Ahmed, issuing a walk, Jarrod Dyson beat out a sacrifice bunt attempt by a half a step, a Chris Owings sacrifice fly moved Ahmed to third, and an infield single that Arenado could just barely not handle from David Peralta scored a run, ending Rusin’s night.

With two runners, Scott Oberg issued Goldschmidt his third walk and brought Lamb to the plate with the bases loaded for the third time. On this occasion, it wasn’t blasting a shot off the wall that scored a pair, but a bloop single to left.

In the seventh, a pair of oh-so-close diving attempts from Gerardo Parra and Gonzalez turned into a double and a triple, both of whom would come around to score and expand the lead to 8-2. Further damage was averted on Arenado’s first highlight reel play of the year, a ranging backhand and an impressive dig-out on the throw by Desmond.

Archie Bradley, of the wild-card-game-triple-hitting fame, locked down the Rockies offense in the seventh and eighth, victimizing Arenado and Story with strikeouts in the latter.

After a strong spring training, Adam Ottavino showed glimpses of what made him a weapon in seasons before 2017, striking out the side, but also issuing a walk in a scoreless eighth.

Fernando Salas pitched around a Chris Iannetta single to throw a scoreless ninth, ending the game. Final: Colorado 2, Arizona 8.

Final stats

Jon Gray: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R (3 ER), 4 SO, 3 BB

Nolan Arenado: 2-for-4, HR, RBI, R, SO

Adam Ottavino: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 SO, 1 BB

Patrick Corbin: 5.2 IP. 7 H, 2 R (2 ER), 8 SO, 1 BB

Jake Lamb: 2-for-5, 2B, 4 RBI, 2 SO

Archie Bradley: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 SO, 0 BB

What’s next

The Rockies continue the series with Arizona on Friday, with Tyler Anderson slated to take on Robbie Ray in the desert. First pitch is at 7:40 MDT. The two teams will meet for one more in the desert on Saturday, before a Rockies off day on Sunday. On Monday, the team begins a four game set at Petco Park against the San Diego Padres, before coming home to Coors Field and its shiny new scoreboard for the home opener on Friday, April 6 against the Atlanta Braves.