Rockies break franchise record, extend win streak

DENVER – The Los Angeles Angels don’t come to Colorado very often, and considering their roster features some all-time great players—and one incredibly intriguing two-way rookie—it was understandable that the Denver crowd gave nice ovations to Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, and even Shohei Ohtani. It’s an impressive lineup and worth taking a moment to appreciate.

But Colorado Rockies pitcher Jon Gray was in no mood to appreciate his opposition. He preferred to dominate them.

The Rockies were looking for the man at the top of the rotation to secure their ninth-straight quality start, which would be a new franchise record, and Gray did much better than that, cruising past the minimum qualifications, tossing seven innings of shutout baseball.

It looked dicey early when, after he recorded a pair of quick outs, Gray managed to load the bases. Singles from Justin Upton and Albert Pujols weren’t hit incredibly hard but they found the grass and a walk of Andrelton Simmons added to the pressure. Zack Cozart made it even tenser by working the count full, but Gray found a good slider and got the strikeout to escape the jam.

He threw 28 pitches in the first but locked in after that, allowing just two more singles and one walk in the game. He struck out eight.

Colorado got on the board thanks to some small ball in the third. Catcher Tony Wolters reached on an infield single and advanced on a perfect sac bunt from Gray. LeMahieu delivered the run with his patented line drive single to right field, coming on an 0-2 count.

They added another in the sixth thanks to a leadoff triple to right field off the bat of Trevor Story who came in after a fantastic situational at-bat from Gerardo Parra. The eccentric outfielder fought off a number of tough pitches, abandoned his normal batting stance and kept fighting until he was finally able to lift one into the air in left field for an RBI single.

Gray escaped one final bit of trouble in the seventh to put a bow on his third straight excellent start. Simmons led off with a single to left and moved to second on a groundout. The crowd came to life as Ohtani was announced to pinch-hit but he hit a weak grounder to first and Gray stranded the runner at third by getting Martin Maldanado to fly out to left.

The Rockies doubled their run total in the seventh with one swing from Trevor Story. Charlie Blackmon walked and advanced on a single up the middle from Nolan Arenado. Both runners scored on a double to left from Story who continues to pace the team in RBI with 23.

That turned out to be hugely important when Trout walked and Upton shocked everyone by taking Adam Ottavino deep. That ballooned Otto’s ERA all the way up to 1.35.

Wade Davis came on in the ninth and gave up a one-out single to Cozart but got Kole Calhoun to ground into a game-ending double play, collecting his 14th save of the year to just one blown.

Colorado improved to 21-15 and are now on a six-game winning streak.

Final Stats:

Jon Gray: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K (4.24 ERA)

Adam Ottavino: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 1 BB (1.35 ERA)

Wade Davis: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER (S: 14)

Trevor Story: 2-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI

DJ LeMahieu: 1-for-4, 1 RBI

Nolan Arenado: 1-for-3, 1 R, BB

Charlie Blackmon: 0-for-2, 1 R, 2 BB

Tony Wolters: 1-for-4, 1 R

What’s Next:

The second and final game of the series is set for Wednesday at 1:10 Mountain Time. The 21-year-old rookie Jaime Barria will take on Tyler Anderson who is sporting a 2.03 ERA over his last six starts.