In this original BSN Denver series, we take a look at some of the best Rockies’ photography of the last week as well as the top shot in the game of baseball.
Melville Mania stretched into his second start, this time at Coors Field. In another excellent performance aired on YouTube, the Missouri native tossed five shutout innings against Atlanta, leaders of the NL East. In doing so, he lowered his ERA to 0.75 and became the sixth Rockies pitcher to toss five or more shutout innings in their Coors Field debut and the first since Drew Pomeranz in 2011.
Ryan McMahon launched a two-run, walk-off homer to lift the Rockies over Atlanta, snapping their eight-game winning streak. The rescheduled game from an April 10 postponement was Colorado’s eighth walk-off win and fourth walk-off home run of the season. McMahon’s second career walk-off home run (also: Aug. 11, 2018 vs. Los Angeles-NL) elevates his profile as one of Colorado’s best players during the 2019 second half.
The reigning AL MVP was all smiles in Boston’s two-game sweep in Colorado even given the result of his first at bat in Tuesday night’s affair against RHP Rico Garcia, making his MLB debut. The Hawaii-born hurler struck out Betts in seven pitches in his lone highlight of the night. The 26-year-old Betts may have gone 1-for-9 in the series, but teammates Xander Bogaerts (5-for-8 with 3 HRs and 4 RBI), J.D. Martinez (4-for-10 with 1 HR and 4 RBI) and Rafael Devers (3-for-8, 1 RBI) greatly enjoyed their time at Coors Field.
Chi Chi González exits the game in the first inning after surrendering seven earned runs against the NL Central-worst Pittsburgh Pirates. The performance capped the worst ERA (6.40) in the month of August in team history. It was the highest in the National League this month and the second-highest in the Majors due in large part to the fact that the entire Opening Day rotation of Jon Gray, German Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Tyler Anderson and Chad Bettis is on the IL.
Colorado’s losing ways boils over in the ninth inning when Charlie Blackmon is rung up and subsequently tossed by home plate umpire Jerry Meals. Blackmon’s third career ejection was immediately followed by Bud Black’s second ejection of the season and 31st of his career. Incidentally, the ball was two inches off the plate and was not a strike.
Pirates’ Steven Brault put the finishing touches on a four-game sweep of the Rockies that flipped places in the standings and moved Colorado back to the second-worst record in the National League. The Regis University product threw 6.1 innings, giving up just one earned run, and mashed the first home run of his career.
PIC OF THE WEEK: Astros’ Justin Verlander celebrates his third career no-hitter, a 120-pitch gem against the Toronto Blue Jays. After a first inning walk, Verlander sat down 26 straight batters, striking out 14 in the process. In the ninth, rookie Abraham Toro hit a two-run home run to erase the 0-0 tie before fielding the final out of Verlander’s epic performance; he most surely be rewarded by the future Hall of Famer.
