#6
Wednesday 7th April — Arizona Diamondbacks vs Colorado Rockies @ Coors Field
After suffering four consecutive defeats over the span of two series, the Rockies pulled out a Senz-ational (eugh) performance on Wednesday evening on the back of a dominant performance by Starting Pitcher Antonio Senzatela.
Senza pitched 8 shutout innings, allowing only 4 hits on the evening to lead the Rockies to only their 2nd ever shutout game against the Diamondbacks at Coors Field. Senza pitched 14 groundball outs and shook off the cobwebs of his disappointing performance against the Dodgers last Friday. He frustrated the DBacks offence all evening and allowed the Rockies offence (especially Thing1 and Thing 2) ample opportunity to frustrate Madison Bumgarner on the opposing mound. Senza hit 62 of 96 pitches for strikes and at one point fanned 10 straight before a leadoff walk to start the 8th saw Arizona get on base again. After a frustrating week for Rockies fans, Wednesday night felt like a giant exhale and gave the Rockies faithful a dominant performance to cheer for.
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Chris Owings continues to ball out. Owings went 3–3 with 2 RBIs and 3 extra-base hits, including a triple in the 1st inning which scored the Rockies first runs of the day (bringing Garrett Hampson over). This was Owings 2nd triple of the young season and he continues to look fantastic hitting (he’s hitting .500 on the season) and running the bases. Unfortunately, he was pulled from the game in the 6th after suffering from right leg soreness, but Owings continues to make his mark on a Rockies team that is still trying to figure out its identity.
Batters in the 1st and 2nd spot were the Rockies secret weapon on the day. Garrett Hampson had a fantastic game in the leadoff spot — he went 2–3, with 3 runs, 1 RBI and 2 walks. Following immediately behind Hampson, the combination of Owings and Sam Hilliard in the No2 spot combined for 4–5, with 4 RBIs and 2 runs. The success of the pairing at the top of the batting order led Drew Goodman (of AT&T Sportnet Rocky Mountain) to anoint the Hampson/Hilliard combination ‘Thing 1 and Thing 2’ — an expression that I will be stealing (providing they keep playing well!).
If, like me, you are a fan of defence, then Wednesday had a couple of plays for you too! In the top of the 3rd, CJ Cron fielded a hard hit groundball that he whizzed over to 3rd base, allowing Fuentes to chase down a loose runner inbetween 2nd and 3rd. At the top of the 8th, Elias Diaz fielded a wild pitch well and intuitively threw the ball to Fuentes at 3rd, who proceeded to tag out the retreating Arizona runner. Two high IQ baseball plays to compliment a solid pitching and batting performance.
Overall, this was a very pleasing game for the Rockies and their faithful. Excellent pitching, complimented with solid offence and smattered with some wonderful defence plays produced the most well-rounded and comprehensive performance of the early season for Colorado. Lets hope the Rockies can build on this momentum and close out with a series win over Arizona tomorrow night.
Final Score — Arizona Diamondbacks 0 — Colorado Rockies 8
Rockies MVP — Antonio Senzatela
