Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 5: CJ the Cronqueror Strikes Again

CJ Cron dragged the Rockies to victory with sheer willpower, driving in all six runs for a series win.

The Colorado Rockies managed to topple the Arizona Diamondbacks in a come-from-behind-victory to snag a series win. The game was pretty ugly for the first half. At one point the Rockies were down 5-0 with the Diamondbacks outhitting them 9-to-1. It took a hero named Christopher John Cron Jr. emerging from the mountains to carry the team to a 6-5 victory. With today’s win, the Rockies are no longer in sole possession of last place in the NL West and might be able to start climbing out of the basement.

Kuhldn’t Stay Kuhl

Chad Kuhl looked solid for the first four innings of his start this afternoon, but definitely was not on par with his last outing. He had held the Diamondbacks to just one run through those four innings, but things got ugly in the fifth. With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Kuhl gave up back-to-back singles and a walk to load up the bases. Famed Rockies killer David Peralta knew exactly what to do next. On the first pitch of his at-bat Peralta took Kuhl deep on a no-doubter grand slam. Kuhl would finish the day having given up five earned runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out only two batters.

Bullpen Doesn’t Break

The Rockies bullpen did an excellent job keeping Arizona off the board in relief of Chad Kuhl. Robert Stephenson pitched ²⁄₃ of an inning while allowing one hit before giving way to the local lefty Lucas Gilbreath. Gilbreath has been pitching very well over the last few months and this afternoon was no exception. Over 1 ¹⁄₃ innings he did give up two hits but also struck out two. Rookie reliever Jake Bird continued his strong work in establishing himself as a big league bullpen pitcher. He worked a quick 1-2-3 inning in the eighth and earned his first career big league win as the pitcher on record. Daniel Bard earned his 16th save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning, though not without some drama. A double, an intentional walk of the very scary David Peralta, and an unintentional walk of the also very scary Christian Walker had the bases loaded with two outs. Bard induced an easy 4-3 ground-out to seal the Rockies’ victory.

“Fine. I’ll do it myself.”

Coming into the bottom of the sixth inning the Diamondbacks were outhitting the Rockies 9-to-1 and it looked like a comeback was impossible. Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zac Gallen was simply dealing and the Rockies had no answers. Rookie Elehuris Montero led off the inning with a sharply hit single to right field for the Rockies’ second hit. Yonathan Daza followed that up with a single of his own and the Rockies had a runner on second for the first time all day. With two outs, CJ Cron—who had never hit a home run against the Diamondbacks before—decided that it was time to put the Rockies on the board. He crushed a no-doubt three run home run to make it a competitive ballgame. In the eighth inning Cron struck again. Diamondbacks reliever Ian Kennedy left the game with an injury, causing Noé Ramirez to enter the game with a 3-2 count on Yonathan Daza. Daza singled for his third hit of the game, and Charlie Blackmon quickly singled himself on as well. CJ Cron then struck the killing blow: a second three run home run to put the Rockies on top 6-5. Cron finished the day having gone 2-for-4 with two home runs, six RBI, and walked away the unmistakable MVP of the day.

Coming Up Next

The Rockies will hop on a plane tonight and head to Chavez Ravine in order to kick off a three game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kyle Freeland will have the mound for the Rockies against Dodgers lefty Julio Urías. First pitch will be at 7:10 PM MDT.