For the first time in 14 years, the Colorado Rockies swept the Houston Astros with a 9-1 victory on Wednesday. With the victory, the Rockies improved to 6-6 on the year, marking the latest they had been at a .500 record or better at least 12 games into a season since May 14, 2022. Behind another strong starting pitching performance and quality hitting from the offense, the Rockies have now won four straight games.
Lorenzen’s Refresh
Looking to avenge his rough outing last time around, Michael Lorenzen did that and more
against the Astros. He ended up going 5.2 innings, allowing one run on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks. The lone run came in the top of the second after Isaac Paredes walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a single from Christian Walker. Lorenzen then notched a pair of punch outs before pinch-hitter Brice Matthews singled to left field to drive in the run.
Lorezen went right back to work, utilizing all of his pitches to stifle the Astros offense. He induced eight groundouts and threw 62 of his 100 pitches for strikes. He was close to finishing the sixth inning, but ran into trouble after Joey Loperfido had a two-out hit to put men on the corners. Lorenzen then left the game with the bases loaded after issuing a walk to Matthews. Luckily, Zach Agnos bailed him out of the inning without another run scoring.
The Rockies’ starters now sport a 4.44 ERA on the season as a unit at the end of this home stand.
Agnos Carving up the Astros
Speaking of Agnos, the young righty cruised through the end of the game to earn a multi-inning save. He ended up working 3.1 innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two batters. He turned 44 pitches, 29 of which went for strikes.
A Busy Second Inning
Astros’ starter Cristian Javier had to depart the game after throwing his warm-up pitches in the second inning, leaving the Rockies to face off against the Houston bullpen the rest of the game. The Rockies ended up scoring five runs in the second inning, after scratching one across in the bottom of the first. Troy Johnston led off with a double, followed by a bunt single for Brenton Doyle. He then stole second base while Kyle Karros drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. Edouard Julien delivered a two-run single to give the Rockies a 3-1 lead.
Tyler Freeman dropped a sacrifice bunt, setting up a sacrifice fly RBI for Mickey Moniak. Hunter Goodman then drew a walk and stole second base with TJ Rumfield at the plate. A wild pitch scored Julien, upon which Rumfield drew a walk after a 10-pitch at-bat. Ezequiel Tovar put the cap on the inning with an RBI double to give the Rockies a 6-1 lead.
Colorado had four hits, two stolen bases, three walks, and a pair of bunts in the inning, showing off the multiple facets that offense can use to score runs.
Rockies Rockin’ Offense
Goodman would tack on the Rockies’ seventh run with a solo home run in the fourth inning, while another sacrifice fly in the sixth inning would add on an eighth run, and a Johnston single in the eighth tacked on a ninth run. In total, the Rockies scored nine runs on 10 hits with every player reaching safely at least once. Julien, Tovar, and Johnston each had two hits, while only two starters didn’t have an RBI.
Even more surprising and encouraging was the fact that the Rockies drew nine walks against seven strikeouts. In fact, it was the first time in 251 games that they had more walks than strikeouts, which was the second-longest streak since 1901. Add in four stolen bases and a team that also went 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Up Next
Colorado heads to San Diego to begin a four-game series. They will use an opener, most likely followed by Chase Dollander. San Diego will send Randy Vasquez (1-0, 0.75 ERA) to the mound.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:40 pm MT. See you then!
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