Rockies snap skid with hard-fought win over Diamondbacks

After losing seven in a row, the Colorado Rockies are finally back in the win column after a hard-fought victory in Arizona over the Diamondbacks.

Rookie starting pitcher Ryan Castellani continued to impress and the lineup got just enough offense to feel good after the final out.

Player of the Game: Ryan Castellani

He was once again excellent, especially considering the circumstances of his surprise call-up this season. He battled with command early, but locked in increasingly as the game went along.

The vast majority of his misses were well out of the zone and when it hit his mark, he was inducing ugly swings from Diamondbacks’ hitters. He did make two mistakes in the zone that were blasted for solo home runs.

A fastball that trailed a bit high in the zone to Kole Calhoun in the third wasn’t a terrible pitch; however, it caught just a bit too much of the zone and the big lefty was able to turn on it for a long ball to right.

In the fourth, he missed badly on a changeup that hung in the zone to Christian Walker, who launched it to left to tie the score at 2-2.

Moment(s) of the Game: Wolters and Tapia Team Up

Tony Wolters started both rallies in the third and fifth. This was the difference Monday night.

After singling to center in the third, Wolters raced from first-to-third on a Raimel Tapia single, also to center. It was a questionable decision given that a typical good throw would probably have had him dead-to-right. On this occasion, Wolters went flying into third with a diving head first slide to arrive at the same time as the ball. It skipped away, Wolters was safe, and Tapia strode into second.

When Trevor Story struck out and Nolan Arenado was intentionally walked, it seemed like Colorado might end up with nothing as the DBacks were poised to deploy another double play. Instead of hitting into his second twin killing of the game, Daniel Murphy lifted a liner to deep right for a sacrifice fly.

In the fifth, Wolters was seen doubling down the left field line and for the second time in as many appearances he scored the go-ahead run, this time on another single off the bat of Tap.

Tapia’s three hits raised his season average to .311, a season-high.

Bullpen

Yency Almonte got a couple of quick outs but found himself in trouble after a pair of sharply hit singles to right. It seemed as though Bud Black was going out to talk strategy, but a quick signal to the bullpen brought out Carlos Estévez.

Estévez threw one pitch to Calhoun, a fastball away, that was hit hard to left, but tracked down by Tapia on the warning track.

He had no such heart-stopping moment staying on for the eighth. Wild Thing worked easily around a chopper single from Starling Marte, punctuating the frame by punching out Walker on three straight high and tight fastballs at 98 MPH.

Daniel Bard slammed the door shut against his former employers to secure the win.

Diamond Details

• In the first, Trevor Story hit his ninth home run of the season. He now has 20 home runs in 70 games against the Diamondbacks in his career.