DENVER – In his first appearance since returning from Triple-A—and in the first game pitched by someone outside of the five rotational starters the Colorado Rockies began the season with—Antonio Senzatela was magnificent.
The 23-year-old could not have asked for a warmer welcome back to the bigs, dominating the San Francisco Giants over seven innings. He gave up just three hits and did not walk a batter, striking out four.
He was, simply put, Senzational.
Colorado’s offense backed him up with an eight-run outburst, collecting 12 hits along the way and securing the most comfortable victory they’ve seen in a while.
The Rockies got it started in the first beginning with a huge potential sign in Charlie Blackmon launching a solo home run over the wall in center. Not only did it score the all-important first run, it was his first extra-base hit since June 22 and his first homer since June 20.
Nolan Arenado followed the Blackmon home run with a single to right, moved up to second on a single from Trevor Story, and scored on the third straight single, this one off the bat of Gerardo Parra, giving the Rockies a 2-0 early lead. It also gave Story 60 RBI on the season, putting him in fourth place in the National League.
They tacked on in the third, getting a two-out line drive single from Carlos Gonzalez who scored when Story tripled into the corner in right, his fifth three-bagger of the season.
The big inning came in the fifth. DJ LeMahieu led off with a walk and advanced on Blackmon’s single to left field. Arenado worked the count full before absolutely unloading on one, smashing his 22nd home run of the season well over the wall in center field.
Moving him to 63 RBI on the year, Arenado took the NL lead in that category.
The Rockies added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth thanks to a couple of doubles from Desmond and LeMahieu and a single by Blackmon.
The Giants were finally able to scratch out a run in the eighth against Mike Dunn who gave up a single to Austin Jackson, walked Nick Hundley, and allowed the RBI single to Alen Hanson. Jake McGee came in to induce a double play and end the inning.
Harrison Musgrave worked the ninth and gave up a leadoff single to Brandon Belt. But he got Brandon Crawford to fly out, Pablo Sandoval to ground out (nearly a double play) but then he walked Hunter Pence and balked two runners into scoring position. That ended up moot when Joe Panik grounded out to third to end the game.
Colorado improved to 43-43.
What’s Next:
The Rockies aim for the …….. on a Fourth of July Wednesday baseball extravaganza. Tyler Anderson faces off against Andrew Suarez. First pitch at 6:10 Mountain Time.
