Phoenix, Arizona – The Colorado Rockies were in desperate need of a good start tonight, thankfully for them they didn’t have to loan a pitcher from Triple-A, instead, they reached into their savings and found Chris Rusin.

Rusin maintained the interest of all Rockies fans as he matched the efforts of Zack Greinke who the Diamondbacks took out a second mortgage on in the offseason. The Rockies withdrew five while the D-Backs cashed two for themselves in Saturday night’s Colorado win.

Trevor Story came into the game chasing history, looking to become the first rookie to hit 11 home runs in one month, which is impressive considering baseball has been around for roughly 3,000 years. Story would not hit his record-breaking home run, having to “settle” for a double and a triple and three RBI. His double in the third got the Rockies on the board and out in front, scoring the returning Charlie Blackmon. Blackmon also had a nice night, singling twice and scoring twice.

But Story didn’t just get things started, he also finished them off. After a prolonged battle with Brad Ziegler and the game still deadlocked at two in the ninth, he ripped a two-run triple the opposite way, giving the Rockies the lead. Trevor Story 3, Arizona Diamondbacks 2. 

Carlos Estevez gave up the only runs the Diamondbacks scored in the game. He gave up a pair of runs on a pair of hits including a no-doubt home run to third baseman Brandon Drury. Estevez raised his season ERA to 6.00 on the season but has still managed to give the Rockies ‘pen a much-needed boost. Gonzalez Germen has done the same. He pitched a clean inning, lowering his ERA to 3.18.

Nolan Arenado just couldn’t let the rookie have the night to himself, though. He went 2-for-4 with and also drove in a run in the ninth. Arenado raised his batting average to .297.
Carlos Gonzalez did not factor into the scoring but was smashing laser line drives all over the field, going 3-for-4 and lifting his average to .330 in 2016.

Chad Qualls has been quietly good as well and pitched a clean eighth, earning the Win. Jake McGee closed out the ninth, recording his fifth Save of the season despite allowing two hits and needing a little help from a Trevor Story double play.

HIGHLIGHTS:

🙀😼😻 pic.twitter.com/ppaBu5bicU

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) May 1, 2016

TURNING POINT:

Trevor Story’s triple down-the-line in the ninth scored two, breaking the 2-2 tie, giving the Rockies the lead.

PLAYER OF THE GAME:

Chris Rusin

Five innings pitched, one hit, three walks, six strikeouts and a game score of 68. He has a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings pitched this year, however, tonight was his first start as he has primarily been the long reliever.

He started 22 games last year and was nothing but solid, and he has counted to do just that this year. Rusin has been the platonic ideal of what a fifth starter should be.

BY THE NUMBERS:

0.5 – The Rockies are a half game back of first place in the NL West.

3-12 – The Rockies with RISP tonight.

9 – The Rockies left nine runners on base.

WHAT’S AHEAD:

The Rockies will go for the sweep tomorrow against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Chad Bettis will face off against Shelby Miller at 1:10 MST.