The Rockies entered Saturday night’s game searching for two things. One, a solid start from struggling left-hander Tyler Anderson. Two, a consistent, sustained performance from their sputtering offense.
The Rockies hit the jackpot in a 9-1 romp over Arizona at Coors Field, a victory that increased their lead to 1 ½ games over the Diamondbacks in the National League West.
Prior to the game, manager Bud Black said: “Tyler doesn’t need any magic formula, he just needs to string good pitches together and do it inning after inning.”
Anderson obliged — after a shaky beginning that included some infield rollers for hits by the D-Backs.
Masterfully mixing his fastball, changeup and a cutter that Black said was the best it’s been all season, Anderson limited the Diamondbacks to one run on six hits over six innings. The left-hander tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts. The last six outs he recorded, and nine of his last 11 outs, came via strikeouts.
“I just threw a lot more quality strikes and I kept the ball down a lot better,” said Anderson,who improved to 2-4 and whittled his ERA from from 7.71 to 6.69. “I had a lot more balls at the bottom of the zone. In general, I mixed my pitches a lot more than I had been.”
All told, Arizona struck out 13 times, prompting manager Tony Lovullo to say: “That’s not what you expect when you come into this ballpark, so it’s a little bit surprising. But I don’t think it’s any indication of where our hitters are, I think it’s more a credit to what their guys did tonight.”
Powered by home runs from Mark Reynolds and Nolan Arenado, and three-hit performances by Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu, Colorado’s offense finally found a higher gear, cranking out 14 hits and batting 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
“We just stayed on the attack and that was nice to see,” Black said. “We swung the bats well and I thought we had a good plan going in.”
The Rockies ambushed Arizona left-hander Patrick Corbin in the first inning, using a double by Blackmon, a single by LeMahieu, a wild pitch, an RBI single by Arenado and a two-run homer by Reynolds to stake a 4-0 lead.
Reynolds, a nonroster invitee to spring training, leads the Rockies with 10 homers and 26 RBIs. He didn’t hit home run No.10 last year until July 21 and finished the season with 14.
“Baseball players get on some hot streaks sometimes and I just happen to be on one to start the year,” said Reynolds, who’s batting .315. “I’ve been on the roller coaster many times in my career, so I’m just trying to keep working and stay with my approach before games and hope it translates to the field.”
BOX SCORE: Rockies 9, Diamondbacks 1
A two-run fourth put Colorado in command. Blackmon scorched a run-scoring triple down the first-base line to score Anderson and then trotted home on LeMahieu’s single to right. Blackmon, who hit five triples last season, already has four after 31 games this season.
The first three innings were a high-wire act for Anderson, but he managed to hold the Diamondbacks to a single run, that coming when Gregor Blanco drove in Brandon Drury with a single in the second.
Anderson was rescued by some excellent pitches, and with a little help from his four-time Gold Glove third baseman. Anderson used a nifty changeup to strike out Jake Lamb with two on in the first inning. In the second, Arenado gobbled up a grounder, scurried to third base and then threw a rocket to first to complete the inning-ending double play.
Anderson picked off Nick Ahmed at second base to defuse an Arizona rally in the third — and then he started cruising. He ended the fifth with perhaps his best pitch of the night, striking out Rockies killer Paul Goldschmidt looking at an 88 mph cutter on a 3-2 pitch.
Left-hander Chris Rusin got the first save of his career, pitching three scoreless innings to cap off the victory. It was the 18th three-inning save in Rockies history.
