Rockies 6, Diamondbacks 5: Rox win, but at what cost?

The Rockies won against the Diamondbacks, but saw two key contributors leave the game with injuries

Chad Kuhl gutted out a decent start and Kris Bryant hit two home runs, plus the Rockies finally got one over on Zac Gallen. You’d think we’d be more excited, but unfortunately the 6-5 victory was marred by the injuries of C.J. Cron and José Iglesias, both of whom had to leave the game early.

Trading early blows

Scoring came quickly and early in this game as both lineups put good swings into balls from the start.

Kris Bryant got things going in the top of the first inning, sending Zac Gallen’s 1-0 fastball over the left field wall. Bryant’s second long ball of the season put the Rockies on top before you could say “Los Serpientos.” It wouldn’t be the last time Bryant made his mark on Friday’s game.

The lead was not long to last. Arizona struck right back when Josh Rojas led off the bottom of the frame with a home run to tie things up at 1. Chad Kuhl would be tagged again for two more runs off the bat of Sergio Alcántara when he took Kuhl deep in the second inning to give the Snakes a 3-1 lead.

Kuhl’s gutsy outing

Chad Kuhl had trouble locating his pitches throughout his start, noticeably spraying his fastball to the sides of the plate and leaving his breaking pitches up in the zone (hence the aforementioned home runs), which put the Rockies in a 3-1 hole early. Even so, he stayed in and battled throughout his start and kept things close enough for his team to claw their way back. Kuhl ended his outing having thrown five innings and allowing four runs on six hits while walking three and striking out four. It’s certainly no complete game shutout, but in a game that could very well have seen him exit after the second inning, getting as far into the contest as he was able is admirable on Kuhl’s part.

Pivotal fifth

With the Rockies down 4-2 and still looking for answers against Arizona starter Zac Gallen, they entered the fifth inning and put themselves in a good spot to score after Yonathan Daza’s one-out walk and Brian Serven’s subsequent double to put runners at second and third. A Charlie Blackmon strikeout put the run-scoring opportunity in jeopardy, but consecutive walks to Bryant and Brendan Rodgers put the Rockies within one. CJ Cron then got hit by a pitch (more on that later) to tie things at 4-4.

It wasn’t pretty and won’t raise a bunch of batting averages, but you score how you can in MLB and the Rockies were happy to have come back from the deficit.

Keep pouring on

After tying the game, Colorado’s offense kept things rolling in the following innings. A run came home in the sixth by way of a Daza fielder’s choice, and the sixth Rockies run scored by way of a Bryant homer – his second of the game. This is Bryant’s first multi-homer game in purple, and further shows what he’s capable of now that the superstar is fully healthy.

Scary scenes

The Rockies saw two of their key players leave Friday’s game prematurely. Cron was in clear pain following his hit-by-pitch and was taken to the clubhouse for further inspection. Luckily, the club says that X-rays are negative.

In the sixth, that Daza fielder’s choice allowed José Iglesias to score, but not before a scary collision that saw him catch the lower body of catcher Jose Herrera to “Iggy’s” face. He seemed to be in rough shape, and, like his teammate Cron, was also removed from the game.

It remains to be seen what time these two will have to miss, if any. We will keep you updated here on the site.

The Rockies took a hard-fought victory in Arizona after Robert Stephenson, Lucas Gilbreath, Jake Bird, and Alex Colomé combined to close things out, but what ramifications those injuries have will no doubt be on the forefront of Colorado fans’ minds.

Up Next

The Rockies and Diamondbacks finish their series tomorrow with the third game of their set. That finale will see Kyle Freeland (4-6, 4.43 ERA) do battle with veteran Madison Bumgarner (4-8, 3.74 ERA).

First pitch is at 2:10pm MDT. See you then!