The Colorado Rockies defeated the Seattle Mariners Friday night, 10-7.
The Mariners jumped out to an early lead in the first inning when Mitch Haniger drove home the first run of the evening on an RBI single. The Mariners later scored again after an error from Jeff Hoffman on a pick-off attempt.
However, the Rockies answered quickly as Charlie Blackmon roped a solo home run to center field in the bottom of the first to cut the score to 2-1.
Rockies’ starting pitcher Jeff Hoffman, who was called up Friday from Triple-A Albuquerque, buckled down in the second inning which allowed the Rockies to tie the score in the bottom half of the frame. Gerardo Parra and Ian Desmond started the inning with base hits which then followed by catcher Tony Wolters hitting into a fielder’s choice to score a run to tie the game.
The Rockies scored another pair of runs in the following inning when shortstop Trevor Story blasted a two-run home run to center field to push Colorado ahead 4-2 in the third.
Seattle got a run back in the fourth inning when pitcher Christian Bergman helped his own cause by hitting an RBI single to center field.
The Rockies clapped back in the bottom of the fifth inning by scoring four runs. The tandem of Parra and Desmond duplicated and furthered their success from the second inning by each hitting RBI singles which were followed by a third from Wolters to extend the Rockies’ lead to 8-3.
Colorado plated an additional two runs in the sixth inning after Story ripped a double to deep right-center field, which pushed the Rockies ahead 10-3.
The Mariners figured out the Rockies’ bullpen in the seventh inning after relief pitcher Harrison Musgrave surrendered back-to-back walks then followed by an RBI single from Kyle Seager. From there, Rockies manager Bud Black opted to make a pitching switch in favor of Chris Rusin. Rusin struggled and only faced one batter, Denard Span, who hit a triple to center field that scored two runs. After that, Black made another switch, this time to Scott Oberg who allowed an inherited run to cross the plate, making the score 10-7.
After the seventh inning, the Rockies bullpen, including Wade Davis locked things down and push Colorado to victory in the series opener.
The Rockies and Mariners will continue their series Saturday evening from Coors Field with first pitch set for 7:10 MST.
