Stars shine bright in Rockies series-deciding route of Diamondbacks

DENVER – There was no getting around how important this 10-game homestand was going to be for the Colorado Rockies chances at winning their first ever divisional title and making the postseason in consectuive seasons for the first time in franchise history.

Sweeping the Giants then taking a frustrating 2-1 loss against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Rockies bounced back in a big way by not only taking three of four from the Arizona Diamondbacks but doing so in dominant fashion as showcased in a 10-3 win on Thursday.

The offense that has been up and down all season, reached double digits for the second time in the set against the team with the third best ERA in the NL. Scoring early and often, the 10 runs came on 16 hits and every single member of the lineup got on base at least once.

But it was the big stars of the team including Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story continuing their battle for MVP honors, that shined the brightest in one of the best all-around wins of 2018.

Kyle Freeland was better than his final line would suggest, dominating most of the game and even contributing on offense. He didn’t finish the game the way he would have liked but is still an automatic quality start at Coors Field at the very least.

Colorado caught a break before they even went to bat, finding out that starter Clay Buchholtz (who has been hot lately) was a late scratch with right elbow tightness and they would instead be facing reliever Matt Koch.

The Rockies took the lead in the bottom of the first despite a leadoff single from David Dahl being erased on a double play off the bat of DJ LeMahieu. Arenado followed that moment of frustration by launching the very first pitch he saw 464 feet onto the concourse in left field for his 34th home run of the season.

Arizona tied it up when Kyle Freeland left a cutter up and in for A.J. Pollock crushed it just beyond the wall in left-center field, his 17th round-tripper of the year.

Again in the bottom of the second, it looked like an ill-timed double play would cost Colorado a run. Trevor Story led off with a single up the middle and Gerardo Parra drew a walk before Ian Desmond hit into the twin killing.

With a runner at third and two outs, Koch worked around Chris Iannetta, issuing the free pass to get to Freeland. But the southpaw who is also an exceptional all-around athlete was there to meet his fastball and drive it over Pollock’s head in center for an RBI double that put his club back on top by a score of 2-1.

The Rockies made it three straight innings with a score, getting a second consecutive hard-hit ball from Arenado, though this one only going for a single, and another concourse home run, this time from Story who destroyed a baseball that landed 471 feet away for his 33rd homer of the season.

With that, he passed Troy Tulowitzki to take sole possession of the record for most home runs in a season by a shortstop in franchise history.

They were at it again in the fourth and their pitcher played a role again with Freeland executing a perfect bunt for a single to lead off the inning. He came all the way around to score from first when Dahl lofted one into left for an RBI double.

The Diamondbacks were stuck on just two hits, Freeland having set down 17 in a row with one out in the seventh when Steven Souza Jr. hit a hard line drive that Dahl misjudged in center, going down as a triple off the wall. He was able to jog home when Nick Ahmed pulled a double into the left-field gap to make it a 5-2 game.

Bud Black decided that would be enough for Freeland and went to rookie Yency Almonte. Ketel Marte greeted him by ripping a double high off the scoreboard in right field to plate another run, bringing the Diamondbacks to within two at 5-3.

Almonte bounced back to strike out Ildemaro Vargas and Socrates Brito (two 80-grade names) to end the inning.

After falling quiet for a couple of inning, the Rockies offense was back at it in the bottom of the seventh. Carlos Gonzalez got things started with an infield single away from the shift. Story was hit by a pitch and pinch-hitter Matt Holliday was walked to load the bases for Ian Desmond.

Desmond stayed patient and worked the count full before watching ball four sail by, getting an RBI on a base on balls. Iannetta followed with soft line out which brough another pinch-hitter to the plate in the form of Charlie Blackmon who was spelled the start in center by Dahl.

Arizona countered with lefty Andrew Chafin who has been their go-to guy against Blackmon, this being their 27th encounter. The Rockies star outfielder came out on top in this one with a simple looping single to center that scored two more runs extending the lead out to 8-3 for the home team.

Dahl and LeMahieu kept it going with back-to-back singles through the right side to make it 10-3.

Harrison Musgrave and Chad Bettis pitched the final two innings with little dramatics to make sure that was the final score.

Colorado improved to 81-65, taking a momentary two-game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the NL West. With the loss, the Diamondbacks are now four games back.

Final Stats:

Kyle Freeland: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

Yency Almonte: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Harrison Musgrave: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Nolan Arenado: 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI

Trevor Story: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI

David Dahl: 3-for-5, 2 RBI

Charlie Blackmon: 1-for-1, 2 RBI

DJ LeMahieu: 2-for-5, 1 RBI

Ian Desmond: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI

Kyle Freeland: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI

What’s Next:

The Rockies are off to San Francisco to face the Giants in a three-game set. The first contest is scheduled for Friday evening with the first pitch at 8:15 Mountain Time. Tyler Anderson will take the hill for Colorado against Chris Stratton for the Giants.