It feels like so long ago that Antonio Senzatela was skipping Triple-A after barely a cup of coffee in Double-A to make the Colorado Rockies 2017 starting rotation out of the gate.

And the fact that the then 22-year-old managed to beat Clayton Kershaw to the mark of first pitcher in the National League is something that the kid they call “Senza” appears determined to make more than a trivial footnote in history.

He eventually fell out of the rotation last season and wouldn’t get his chance to start until Jon Gray was unexpectedly sent down for a brief stint in the minors. But none of it – from the passing of his mother a year before his debut to the ups and downs from rotation to bullpen or MLB to the minors – has dampened his spirits or stunted his will to give everything he can, each time out.

Picking a heck of a time to pitch arguably the best game of his career, especially given the context, Senzteal retired the first 14 Arizona Diamondbacks he faced. He would allow just three hits in total, did not walk a batter and struck out four over seven innings in a game his club needed to win with both of the teams ahead of them in the NL West and Wild Card races picking up victories on the day. (*Unless the Padres make an epic comeback.)

The Rockies jumped all over Patrick Corbin early but had no runs to show for it in the first. DJ LeMahieu singled with one out and advanced around to third on a pair of walks to Nolan Arenado and Matt Holliday that loaded the bases. But Ian Desmond hit into an inning-ending double play.

Corbin couldn’t be so fortunate in the third. He plunked Charlie Blackmon to lead off the inning and once again walked a pair, this time Arenado and Desmond, to load the bases for the second time in three innings. This time, he paid for it. Chris Iannetta delivered the first clutch hit with a line drive single into right-center field, plating two.

David Dahl continued his hot streak of valuable contributions by pulling one through the right side for another RBI single and rookie Garrett Hampson, starting in place of the injured Trevor Story, made it three in a row with a hard grounder back up the middle to give the Rockies a 4-0 lead.

Senzatela was cruising along with the aforementioned 14 straight batters retired with two outs in the fifth when he left a curveball just a little bit over the plate (it was by no means hung) that A.J. Pollock managed to stay back on and lift just over the wall in left with a high fly ball. He got Nick Ahmed to ground out to end the inning.

The Diamondbacks got a leadoff single out of Alex Avila in the sixth but Senztela got Socrates Brito to line out and Jon Jay to hit into a double play to halt any potential rally in its tracks.

Again in the seventh, Arizona got a single, this time from Eduardo Escobar, against Senzatela. But once more, the youngster buckled down and painted some edges to retire David Peralta, Paul Goldschmidt, and Daniel Descalso in what turned out to be his final inning of work.

Adam Ottavino worked a clean inning with a strikeout on five pitches in the eighth.

The Rockies got an insurance run in the top of the ninth thanks to back-to-back singled from Blackmon and LeMahieu, an intentional walk to Gerardo Parra, and an incredibly unintentional walk to Chris Iannetta that made it 5-1. Dahl put a good swing on one with a drive to left but Peralta made a diving catch to keep his club within striking distance.

With a two-hit day, Blackmon extended his hit streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in MLB.

Wade Davis came into his second-straight non-save-situation with a four-run lead in the ninth. He worked a 1-2-3 inning on 10 pitches putting the grand total for the three Rockies’ pitchers in the game at 90 pitches thrown.

Colorado improves to 84-70 and stay 1.5 games back of the Dodgers for first place in the NL West and 1.5 games back of the Cardinals for the second Wild Card spot.

Final Stats:

Antonio Senzatela: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Adam Ottavino: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Wade Davis: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Charlie Blackmon: 2-for-4, 1 R

Chris Iannetta: 2-for-4, 1 R, 2 RBI

David Dahl: 1-for-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB

DJ LeMahieu: 2-for-5

What’s Next:

The Rockies aim for a sweep against their division rivals on Sunday afternoon behind the Duke of Denver, Kyle Freeland. Arizona will counter with Zack Godley. First pitch at 2:10 Mountain Time.