Zack Greinke was awesome, the Rockies were not, the series is tied

Zack Greinke was just too good on Saturday night in Phoenix.

The hardest hit ball the Rockies managed off of Greinke until the seventh came in the first off the bat of Raimel Tapia who drove a curveball to the warning track in right center for an out.

The Diamondbacks got on the board with some good execution and some good fortune from Daniel Descalso. He stretched a line drive in the pull gap into a triple but would have been thrown out at third if not for the tough angle leading to the ball hitting him in the back. The lead-off triple meant that a groundout from David Peralta could score the first run of the game. Chatwood walked Paul Goldschmidt but induced a double play ball from Jake Lamb, meaning ultimately that Descalso hustle paid off.

Colorado wouldn’t get a base runner against Greinke until Mike Tauchman legged out a single to lead off the third. He managed to move up on a ball in the dirt before an out was recorded but a strikeout by Tony Wolters and groundouts from Chatwood and Charlie Blackmon stranded him at third.

Arizona got another pair of runs in the fourth, starting again with a lead-off triple. This time it was Paul Goldschmidt who appeared to just be trying to foul a pitch off, but it hit it just inside the right field foul line and Raimel Tapia misplayed it allowing the Diamondbacks star to reach third. The Rockies brought the infield in but it wouldn’t matter as Chris Owings ripped a double down the left field line. He then moved to third on a Brandon Drury groundout and scored on a two-out wild pitch, something that has absolutely killed the Rockies the past two weeks.

In the seventh, the Rockies finally got to Greinke, getting a line drive single from Nolan Arenado and an off-balance, one-hand, two-strike-after-a-nonsense-call home run from Trevor Story. It was Story’s eighth home run in Arizona and fourth off of Greinke and suddenly the Rockies had life in a one-run game at 3-2.

Unfortunately for the young shortstop, he immediately made an error in the bottom of the frame allowing Rey Fuentes to reach first base. And the inning spiraled out of control from there.

Fuentes came in to score on a triple by Jeff Mathis over the head of Blackmon in center field. Mathis came in on a sac fly from Ketel Marte on a flyball to left that was dropped by rookie Mike Tauchman who is still in his first week in MLB. Marte was able to reach second on the error and come in to score on a double to left from Peralta that made it 6-2 and chased Chatwood from the game.

At times, the Rockies starter looked pretty good but just gave up too much hard contact, surrendering seven hits over six and one-third innings, giving up six runs though just four of them earned while striking out six.

Scott Oberg inherited a bases loaded, one-out situation and got a pair of pop outs to prevent any further damage. He also completed the eighth, working around a double from Gregor Blanco.

Tapia and Arenado threatened a ninth inning rally but were stranded out there in another lackluster performance from the Rockies offense.