Finger pushing
weather icon 61°F


Rockies stretch winning streak to five with walk-off blast from catcher Elias Diaz

Diamondbacks Rockies Baseball

Elias Diaz put together a spectacular at-bat, and that was before he launched a three-run walk-off home run.

The Rockies’ catcher pushed the at-bat to the 10th pitch before he lined a hanging breaking ball just over the wall in left to cap Colorado’s 5-2 victory over Arizona on Saturday night.

His at-bat continued the theme of the inning, as Diamondbacks reliever J.B. Wendelken threw 33 pitches in the ninth before grooving one to Diaz.

“It’s really hard as a pitcher to throw a really good pitch when you’re that deep into an inning,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

Colorado has won five in a row and improved to 43-21 at Coors Field.

The Rockies had produced a dramatic home run an inning earlier when Garrett Hampson blasted a two-run pinch-hit shot to tie the score.

“It’s pretty exciting to come in in a big spot and come through,” Hampson said.

It was the second home run in as many nights for Hampson. Prior to a second-inning two-run blast on Friday he had gone 45 games and 143 plate appearances without a home run.

“Those are the types of moments that get us excited about his potential and what he can do,” Black said.

Daniel Bard (7-5) earned the victory after throwing a scoreless ninth.

The offense came too late for Kyle Freeland to factor into the decision. The lefty matched a career high with 10 strikeouts as he walked one and gave up two hits. Arizona scored against him twice in the fifth on a Daulton Varsho solo home run and Ketel Marte single that plated Drew Ellis.

Freeland stumbled out of the gate after a shoulder injury delayed the start of his season. After five starts his ERA stood at 9.58. Since that point the Denver native is sporting a 2.53 ERA across 11 starts with 61 strikeouts and 11 walks in 64 innings.

Freeland has pitched at least five innings in each of those 11 starts, and his seven innings on Saturday matched a season-high.

“The entire arsenal was working tonight, especially the curveball,” Freeland said.

The Rockies’ defense helped Freeland. Ryan McMahon lunged to his right to snag on one-hop a sharply hit ball from Ellis in the second inning and Trevor Story ranged up the middle, spun and threw out Asdrubal Cabrera at first.

“A lot of guys made contributions to win that one,” Black said.

With Freeland again in top form and Zac Gallen (seven innings, three hits, no runs, nine strikeouts, one walk) more than matching him, it seemed Colorado had squandered its best opportunity early when Ryan McMahon struck out with the bases loaded.

But after Hampson tied it, the Rockies created another opportunity in the ninth.

Charlie Blackmon reached on bloop single leading off the inning. Trevor Story and C.J. Cron followed with strikeouts and McMahon reached on a high chopper in the infield. Then Diaz came up and fouled off everything in Wendelken’s arsenal before winning it.

“I’m not surprised,” Black said of Diaz, who is hitting .301 and slugging .658 since June 28, “because the fundamental skill set is there.”

Tags


Welcome Back.

Streak: 9 days i

Stories you've missed since your last login:

Stories you've saved for later:

Recommended stories based on your interests:

Edit my interests