DENVER – Most people in Rockieland had never heard of RHP Tim Melville one week ago but he has now strung together 13 innings of work in which he has surrendered just one run.
In just these two outings, he has become one of the best stories of the year for a club that admittedly hasn’t had much in the way of great tales in 2019.
For Monday’s matinee, had a tougher battle against the Braves who came in winners of eight straight and boast one of the best lineups in the National League. This time, Melville was at Coors Field.
He gave everything he had in five shutout innings, dancing out of danger a couple of times, using every trick in his bag to keep hitters off-balance and guessing. He gave up five hits, two of them doubles, but also struck out six to give his club every chance to win the ballgame.
The first scoring chance of the game didn’t come until the top of the fourth when Freddie Freeman led off with a walk. Surprisingly, he stole second base on a strikeout pitch against Josh Donaldson.
Matt Joyce hit a low liner into left for a single and Freeman raced home. Ian Desmond unleashed a strong throw that came well in front of the plate in a good place for catcher Dom Nunez to field it easily. The rookie catcher dove back across his body to just barely tag out a sliding Freeman. It was only the fourth outfield assist at home this season for a Rockies club that plays notoriously deep in the outfield.
In the next at-bat, Dansby Swanson nearly went yard, but the ball hooked foul and he went down swinging on the next pitch to end the inning.
Atlanta threatened again in the fifth beginning with a leadoff double from newly-acquired Francisco Cervelli who moved up to third on a deep fly out from Rafael Ortega. Melville struck out his counterpart, but couldn’t put away either Ronald Acuna or Ozzie Albies, walking them to load the bases. He fell behind Freeman 2-0, but got him to swing through one before rolling over a 2-1 pitch in an easy chance for Ryan McMahon who recorded the final out to leave ’em loaded.
Wes Parsons, who like Melville was also not a member of the team a week ago, pitched two very strong innings out of the bullpen against his former club, allowing just one base runner on a walk while striking out three.
Carlos Estevez worked around a two-base error from Nolan Arenado who lost a pop fly in the sun with one away in the eighth.
The Rockies got their first extra-base hit of the game – and just their fourth hit overall – when Nunez led off the bottom of the eighth with a grounder up the middle. With the way the outfielders were spaced, he was able to turn on the jets and cruise easily into second base with a hustle double.
Pinch-hitter Yonder Alonso shattered his bat, producing a grounder that moved Nunez to third for Charlie Blackmon.
With the Atlanta infield pulled in, the veteran hitter made sure to lift the ball in the air, pulling one down the right-field line that Joyce tracked down in the corner. The job was done: Nunez was able to trot home without a throw, finally breaking the scoreless tie on the sacrifice fly.
Trevor Story followed with his third single of the game, giving him three of his club’s five hits, but he was picked off to end the inning.
Unfortunately, as has been the way this season, the road team were able to get that run back in the top of the ninth. Cervelli hit a mistake pitch from Jairo Diaz hard toward the opposite field gap. Though Blackmon had a chance to make the play, he failed to do so and the ball bounced by him all the way to the wall for a one-out triple.
A walk of Ortega set up a potential double play, but pinch-hitter Adeiny Hechavarria was able to lift one to right for the game-tying sac fly.
In the bottom of the ninth, Arenado walked and McMahon hit a two-run walk-off home run over the wall in right, continuing his story of being a bright spot for the team during this dark time, securing a 3-1 win.
