Bud Black had to work a little Coors Field magic on Friday night after he lost starting pitcher Kyle Freeland to a groin injury after 11 pitches. DJ LeMahieu delivered a little Coors Field magic with a go-ahead single in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Rockies a 4-3 victory in game one a weekend series with the Philadelphia Phillies.
It was a patchwork night for the Rockies pitching staff. Freeland injured his groin on a throw to second base in the first inning after allowing a leadoff single and a stolen base and had to leave the game, but Chris Rusin delivered 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to give the Rockies a fighting chance. Antonio Senzatela followed Rusin with 2.0 innings of his own, allowing a pair of runs on three hits and a walk. Scott Oberg got Senzatela out of a jam in the sixth inning but ran into some trouble in the seventh, spotting the Phillies a one-run lead at the time. Mike Dunn (4-1, 4.30) struck out Nick Williams to end the seventh pitched a clean eighth to put himself in place for the win. Greg Holland pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his MLB-best 34th save.
Offensively, Nolan Arenado and LeMahieu provided some late-game heroics, and Carlos Gonzalez continued to heat up. Gonzalez spotted Colorado an early lead with a two-RBI single in the bottom of the first inning after Vince Velasquez walked the bases loaded in the first inning. Velasquez walked a career high six batters and hit a batter in his 5.0 innings. Arenado hit a clutch seventh-inning home run off Ricardo Pinto to level the game after Oberg had surrendered the lead in the top half of the frame. LeMahieu drove in the game-winning run with a two-out single in the eighth.
Colorado is 63-47 on the year, a half-game back of the Diamondbacks for the top Wild Card spot and 5.5 games ahead of the Brewers. The Rockies and Phillies are back at it again on Saturday at 6:10 p.m. Jon Gray (3-2, 5.52) gets the ball for Colorado. Nick Pivetta (4-6, 5.42) goes for Philadelphia.
