A few hours before the Colorado Rockies game against the Arizona Diamondbacks was set to kick off on Wednesday night, several other teams in professional sports were announcing that they would not be playing in solidarity with ongoing protests around the country considering police brutality toward black people.
There was a question about whether or not the game would take place, and it is at this time unclear exactly whose decision it was to go ahead without a team meeting. The only black member of the Rockies roster, Matt Kemp, elected to sit out the game, but no one joined him. The game was played as scheduled.
Because I feel an obligation, and a sense of community, with every DNVR member, I think it is important that I provide you a basic report of the facts from the game while saying unequivocally that I stand with Kemp, the teams that decided not to play in MLB and the NBA, and feel I cannot focus solely on fun things that my privilege allows me to until our society recognizes the fundamental truth that black lives matter.
The recap:
Colorado took an early lead thanks in part to Robbie Ray’s early struggles with command. He walked Garrett Hampson and Trevor Story to open the contest and both speedsters came around to score when Nolan Arenado ripped a double into the left-center field gap.
Jon Gray was excellent, bringing his best raw stuff of the season. His fastball sat on 95 MPH and touched 96 with regularity for the first time this year. He used that along with his signature slider to get five strikeouts on the night, though he did walk three batters when he started just missing the edge of the zone.
He allowed just one run on three hits and that run came on a sac fly and would’ve been erased on a double play the at-bat before had the grounder that put Christian Walker on third not bounced just barely out of the reach of both Josh Fuentes and Brendan Rodgers on the right side.
The Rockies got an insurance run thanks to a two-out single from Hampson in the sixth.
They exploded for five more in the eighth punctuated by a Charlie Blackmon grand slam. Sam Hilliard also hit his fourth home run of the season to start the rally, a no-doubter to right field.
Tyler Kinley and Jairo Diaz nearly blew the game late but Jeff Hoffman bailed them out with the first save of his career to secure an 8-7 win.
This is a link to a fund where you can support the family of Elijah McClain, an Aurora native who was murdered by police via chemical injection last year. His killers walk free.
0 Comments (2 conversations)
ColoradoFanOxford
Drew, what happened in Kenosha, both the initial action (a badly handled warrant serve on an allegedly violent man nearly became tragic because of police incompetency) and then the two murders the next is just a mess. I don’t have easy answers. It’s why I am loathe to support the cancellations (because there aren’t easy solutions) but totally back players decisions not to play (a bit contradictory but, I truthfully don’t have a solution either). But your link to African American businesses and the McCain situation…perfect! Justice is out there somewhere…and light and hard work are the only way to get there. And again I say it, I back Kemp’s decision to not play completely.
As to the game, I’m noticing league wide bullpens have all been gassed since about ten days ago and injuries are piling up. Might the MLB look into expending rosters given both?
The umpiring in the game was awful. Grey looked solid and you sense he’s one step from locking in (and against the D-Backs, has to be a confidence boost). Nolan still is without a homer on the road but is staying back better. All around, a solid series with contributions aside from Blackmon and Story. 29 games left and they have the 7th best record (and the Marlins still have played a few less games). Season is still open…will they have the energy to get there? Might come down to guys like Hoffman, Fuentes, Hilliard and Hampson giving them a few more WAR in total than expected in July.
Great work as always Drew…tough time in America. Living abroad doesn’t separate us from the concern though.
Corbin Greene
It’s really sad that Matt Kemp was standing alone. It’s sad the game happened let alone no one else sitting out