Rockies Red Hot To Start 2nd Half, Sweep Dbacks
- Jim Santora
- Jun 30
- 3 min read
The Rockies managed to finish the first half strong, and we hoped that we'd engineered a 2nd-half winner. Our first test would be the Dbacks coming to the mountains to play ball. There would be excitement and a brush with history...
GAME 1
Dbacks - 7
Rockies - 9 f11
These teams specialize in extra inning games. This was a good one. The Dbacks scored first, but Matt Olson knotted it at 1 with a 2nd inning homer. The teams would both scratch out runs until the 7th, when the Dbacks would bust things open with 5 hits off of Buck Farmer to go up 6-2. But the Rocks did not give up, one-upping the Snakes with 6 hits and 4 runs in the bottom half. The game stayed 6-6 into extra innings, where the Dbacks used a pair of walks and a hit to go up 7-6. In comes Kirby Yates. But the Rocks used a hit, a walk, and a Jake Fraley single to tie it at 7! We go to 11! The Dbacks don't get it done, and then bring in Pedro Avila. Adames leads off and gets his first hit as a Rockie that isn't a homer. Joc Pederson flies out, but then Mark Vientos comes up, rolls his cards, gets a beautiful diamond, and rolls a "13" to walk it off!!
WP - Rea LP - Avila HR - Olson, Adames, Vientos
GAME 2
Dbacks - 0
Rockies - 7
The only game that was a "blow out", but in truth the Rockies got a little luck, as the Dbacks did grind out 9 hits and 13 baserunners, but plated no one. Landen Roupp was good enough in his first start, Colin Rea got ANOTHER 4-inning save, and the Rockies 6-9 hitters went 9 for 16 and made the engine go.
WP - Roupp LP - Stone SV - Rea HR - Adames, Thomas
GAME 3
Dbacks - 0
Rockies - 1
I have played Strat for 35+ years and have never had a no-hitter. I had David Cone taken one into the ninth inning way back in the 90s, but I think he walked 7 guys and eventually I think I lost that game. This time was different. Tyler Glasnow had the Dbacks completely stymied, pitching 7 PERFECT innings on a nice weather day in Coors. He struck out 12 and I don't think there was more than one X ball. We had planned to limit Tyler to 6 innings per start in the 2nd half, but this was different. We didn't actually provide Glasnow much support, but the Rocks did use 3 singles to scratch out a run in the 6th. Up 1-0, Tyler stepped onto the mound in the 8th. The other series paused to watch history unfold. The first guy up is Arraez, who gets a LF x-ball. Jaren Kelenic had come in the game 2 innings ago, and has a nice 2e4 rating out there. So OF COURSE I roll a "2" on the 20-die. Single! Sigh. Glasnow gets a big ovation and heads out. Butto and Jimenez do their jobs and save his win.
WP - Glasnow LP - Nicholas SV - Jimenez HR - none
GAME 4
Dbacks - 2
Rockies - 5
It seemed like maybe the Rocks would just crush the Dbacks to close it out. We hit two homers and plated 5 runs in the first. And then we'd never score again. We'd threaten in the 2nd, but we'd never get a runner past first base the rest of the game. But our pitching bent but never broken. Snell went 5 and struck out 12. Erik Miller really tried but failed to blow the game in the 8th. The Dbacks always seemed ready to have a big inning, but never did.
WP - Snell LP - Abbott SV - Farmer HR - Vientos, Duvall
Rockies start the 2nd half hot and rise to 25-23. Dbacks endure a tough series and fall to 20-28.
