Rockies barely hold off Diamondbacks

[August 12, 2020]  Nolan Arenado homered, Charlie Blackmon and Raimel Tapia had three hits apiece, and the Colorado Rockies held on to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-7 in Denver on Tuesday night.

The score was 2-2 before the Rockies scored six times in the eighth inning. The Diamondbacks responded with five runs in the ninth before Colorado reliever Daniel Bard entered with runners at the corners and two outs. Bard struck out Stephen Vogt looking at a 2-2 slider to earn his first save.

Colorado's Garrett Hampson and Trevor Story had two hits each. Blackmon extended his hit streak to 15 games and raised his average to .500, tops in the majors.

Christian Walker homered among his two hits, Carson Kelly also went deep, Starling Marte had three hits and Tim Locastro added two hits for the Diamondbacks.

After Carlos Estevez (1-0) worked out of a jam in the top of the eighth, the Rockies broke the 2-2 tie in the bottom half.

Hampson led off against reliever Kevin Ginkel (0-1) with a drive off the right-center-field wall for a triple. Story singled home Hampson and scored on Blackmon's double. Ginkel intentionally walked Arenado before being replaced by Alex Young, and Murphy singled to right to score Blackmon.

Two outs later, Tapia's bloop double drove in two more to put Colorado ahead by five, chasing Young.

Arizona came back in the ninth. With one out, Locastro doubled and scored on Nick Ahmed's single. Andy Young singled, prompting Colorado to replace Phillip Diehl with Jairo Diaz. Ketel Marte doubled to drive in two more, and Marte singled to make it 8-6.

Rockies shortstop Trevor Story (27) scores against Arizona Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly (18) in the eighth inning at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

After Walker reached on a two-out walk, Eduardo Escobar singled to cut the deficit to one, leading to Bard's arrival.

Walker led off the fourth with a homer off Kyle Freeland to open the scoring, but Arenado's two-run homer in the bottom half gave the Rockies a 2-1 lead. The long balls were Walker's first and Arenado's fourth.

Kelly homered on the first pitch of the seventh inning -- his first of the season -- to tie it.

Freeland allowed two runs on seven hits over seven innings with two strikeouts and one walk, but he was matched by Zac Gallen. The Arizona righty gave up two runs on seven hits and no walks in seven innings. Gallen struck out seven.

--Field Level Media

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