DENVER – With Arizona Diamondback’s ace Zack Greinke on the hill on Tuesday night, the second game of this four-game set was always going to be an uphill battle for the Colorado Rockies.
And it turned out to be a hill just a bit to steep to climb.
They battled and gave themselves a chance to win at many turns up couldn’t come up with the big hit, falling by a score of 6-3 to even the series.
Started Antonio Senzatela did a fine enough job, giving up a few runs early and late but giving his team a chance to win by keeping them in the game against Greinke.
You already know how the game started, though.
The Diamondbacks took an early lead on a blooping single to center from Eduardo Escobar and a no-doubt two-run bomb off the bat of David Peralta who blasted one to right. Senzatela settled down after that, walking Paul Goldschmidt but not allowing any further damage.
The Rockies struck back immediately with a double high off the wall in right field, just barely missing a home run. DJ LeMahieu moved him to third with a grounder to the right side but Blackmon would have scored anyway on a Nolan Arenado double off the wall in left, the second time in the inning Colorado narrowly missed a round-tripper.
Arenado was cashed in anyway on a game-tying double to left field from new MVP-candidate Trevor Story.
With that, Story became the first shortstop in history with 25 stolen bases, 32 home runs, and 40 doubles. He also became just the second shortstop in MLB history to hit 30 home runs, tally 100 RBI, and steal 20 bases, joining Alex Rodriguez.
The game stayed deadlocked until the Diamondbacks mounted a two-out rally against Senzatela in the sixth. In an 0-2 count, Goldschmidt began things by launching a double over Blackmon’s head in center and Arizona caught a big break when A.J. Pollock hit a slow bouncer toward third that not even Arenado could turn into an out, going down as an infield single.
Ketel Marte followed with a groundball that just snuck by a diving Ryan McMahon at first base, rolling all the way into the corner for a two-run triple that put the Diamondbacks on top 4-2.
The Rockies responded with a two-out rally of their own, though they only managed one run out of it. Arenado hit his second double of the game by pulling one over the third baseman’s head and into left field before David Dahl went down and lifted a pitch off of his shoetops to line the club’s fifth double of the game into right field. Story hit a groundout to second, stranding the tying run at second.
Jake McGee came on in the seventh and allowed a leadoff single to Greinke but got Jon Jay to fly out to center before making way for Scott Oberg. Oberg threw just two pitches to get two outs as Escobar to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Colorado had a great chance to tie it up or even take the lead with yet another two-out run. Matt Holliday came into the game in a pinch-hit situation and hit a high line drive that just barely stayed inside the ballpark, bouncing high off the wall in right-center field for a double. Chris Iannetta and Blackmon followed with walks to load the bases but DJ LeMahieu hit a groundball to second to end the inning without a run scoring.
To add insult to missed opportunity, the Diamondbacks got a couple of insurance runs against Adam Ottavino in the eighth. Peralta walked and stole second. Then Pollock hustled down the line on a grounder to short that included a brief hesitation from Story who seemed to consider a throw to third. But he was too late in making an eventual throw to second and Pollock was safe. He too was able to easily swipe second against the slow-moving Ottavino which meant a pair of runs scored when Marte lofted a single over McMahon’s head at first.
That gave the Diamondbacks a 6-3 lead.
Colorado had one more chance in the ninth with a Carlos Gonzalez double and McMahon bunt hit single. But Ian Desmond and Iannetta went down on strikes before Blackmon flew out to center to end it.
What’s Next:
The third game of the four-game series is set for Wednesday night and should be another good pitching match-up. Jon Gray will take on lefty Patrick Corbin. First pitch at 6:40 Mountain Time.
