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If there was any player that was going to make the Rockies win against the Giants, it was going to be All-Star Nolan Arenado. Nolan has absolutely hammered the Giants in his short career, and he did it again Tuesday night. The Rockies finally snapped their six game losing streak with a 7-3 win.
Another solid performance by a starter was in jeopardy of being wasted, but the offense came through in the seventh and eighth innings to score all of their runs and hit their way to a win. Tyler Chatwood took the mound in his return from the DL and while he wasn’t terrific, he performed well enough to keep the Rockies in the game. Chatwood managed five innings and gave up two runs (one earned) while walking four and striking out four. Chatwood didn’t have his best command, but when runners did reach base, he limited the damage.
The bullpen also did well, giving up only one run over the final four innings. The bullpen also saw the return of Adam Ottavino. Ottavino is easily the best person the bullpen could get as he was absolutely terrific last year. Returning from Tommy John is no easy task, but if Ottavino can return to form, the Rockies could find themselves with a really good seventh, eighth, and ninth inning bullpen. With Jake McGee out of a high leverage closer role, Ottavino can work his way back to closer while Carlos Estevez mans the ninth. Then when Ottavino is ready, they can flip flop roles and the Rockies will have a very solid backend bullpen.
With the Rockies down 2-0 and entering the seventh inning, they needed something to happen. With the bottom of the order starting the inning off, this game was not looking good. However, the Rockies had a different idea and had their best offensive inning on the road trip. Mark Reynolds and Nick Hundley got things going with two singles. The next two batters were then retired and just as quickly as it started, the inning appeared to be ending. DJ LeMahieu kept the inning alive by doing what he has done all year, hit. An infield single that could have ended the inning, instead put the Rockies on the board. Then Nolan came to the plate and showed why he is an All-Star. With two on and two out Arenado drove a ball to left field that cut through the heavy San Fransisco air and got out. The Rockies took a 4-2 lead and earned their first lead of the road trip.
The Rockies got three more runs in the eighth inning and with that they scored double the amount of runs they have on this whole road trip. The Giants got a run to cross in the bottom of the inning, but it still put them down by four runs.
The Rockies finally earned a win and also have a chance to win the series with a win on Wednesday. They face another great pitcher in Johnny Cueto, but they also have a rejuvenated Jorge De La Rosa on the mound. It should be a good game and if the Rockies can take the momentum they earned from this game, they should earn the series win.
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