Diamondbacks defeat Rockies, move to 2-0 to start season
The Diamondbacks moved to 2-0 on Friday night, beating the Rockies, 7-3. They have now outscored Colorado 23-4 across the season’s first two games.
The latest onslaught started early, with back-to-back home runs from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Christian Walker in the first inning. Merrill Kelly allowed a home run in the second, but the Diamondbacks quickly responded, plating a run on a Joc Pederson infield single in the third.
Their big breakthrough, though, came in the sixth. Pederson opened with a single, Gabriel Moreno walked and Eugenio Suarez singled one run home. Then Alek Thomas came to the plate and delivered the night’s defining blow. Thomas turned on a sinker up and in, homering it into the right-field seats and giving the Diamondbacks a 7-1 lead.
The Rockies did manage to get two runs across in the eighth inning against Joe Mantiply and Ryan Thompson, but by then the damage had been done.
While the offense provided the main fireworks, Kelly was excellent in his first start of the year. He needed just 79 pitches to get through 6⅔ innings of one-run ball, striking out eight and walking none.
Pederson also had a strong — if somewhat unusual — performance in his first game as a Diamondback. He became the first player in franchise history to go 4 for 4 in his debut, although all four hits came courtesy of poor fielding by the Rockies. On another day, each could have been ruled an error.
Merrill Kelly shines, Alek Thomas goes deep as DBacks add to lead
Right-hander Merrill Kelly fired 6 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball, retiring the final 15 batters he faced, and Alek Thomas blasted a three-run homer to increase the Diamondbacks’ lead over the Rockies on Friday night.
As play continued in the top of the seventh, the Diamondbacks led, 7-1, and appeared ready to cruise to a second blowout victory over the Colorado Rockies in as many nights to open the season.
Kelly gave up a handful of hard-hit balls in the first couple of innings but seemed to find a rhythm in the third. In the second, he gave up a solo homer to Elias Diaz followed by a single to Ezequiel Tovar.
Kelly then picked Tovar off second and retired Elehuris Montero to end the inning, the first of 15 in a row he would retire before manager Torey Lovullo came to get him with two out and the bases empty in the seventh.
Kelly’s pitch count was at 79 when Lovullo trotted out to the mound to make the pitching change.
The previous half-inning, Thomas turned what was still a somewhat close game into something of a rout. With two on and nobody out, he turned on an up-and-in fastball from Rockies right-hander Jake Bird and blasted it into the right-field seats.
Through the first 15 innings of the season, the Diamondbacks have outscored the Rockies 23-3.
—Nick Piecoro
Diamondbacks jump out to another early lead
The Diamondbacks lead the Rockies, 3-1, after three innings of their second game of the season Friday night.
They got back-to-back first-inning home runs from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Christian Walker to open the scoring, continuing the offensive barrage that saw them win 16-1 on Opening Day.
Merrill Kelly surrendered a second-inning home run to Elias Diaz, but the offense picked him up in the third. Ketel Marte singled, stole second and advanced to third on a flyout. He then scored when Joc Pederson hit an infield single on a high-bouncing groundball that Ezequiel Tovar failed to field at shortstop.
Outside of the home run, Kelly has been strong, striking out six Rockies in the early going.
—Theo Mackie
Saturday’s DBacks-Rockies pitching matchup
Rockies at DBacks, 5:10 p.m., Cox, Ch. 34
Diamondbacks LHP Tommy Henry (5-4, 4.15)* vs. Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (9-9, 5.50)*.
At Chase Field: Henry made 17 appearances (16 starts) last year, logging 89 innings before his season ended due to an elbow injury in late July. … He had his ups and downs during spring training but finished with a pair of strong performances, working a combined 9 1/3 scoreless innings with one walk and seven strikeouts. … He faced the Rockies twice last season, giving up four runs in 12 1/3 innings. … Gomber made 27 starts for the Rockies last season, logging 139 innings. He walked just 2.8 batters per nine innings but struck out only 5.6. … He has a four-pitch mix that includes a fastball that averages 90.6 mph along with a slider, change-up and curve. … In their careers off Gomber, 2B Ketel Marte is 7 for 16 (.438) with two homers and 1B Christian Walker is 4 for 11 (.364) with two homers.
Coming up
Sunday: At Chase Field, 1:10 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (3-9, 5.72)* vs. Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (2-4, 5.82)*.
Monday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (8-8, 5.31)* vs. Yankees RHP Luis Gil (0-0, 9.00)**.
Tuesday: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (1-0, 1.80) vs. Yankees LHP Nestor Cortes (0-0, 7.20).
* — Stats from 2023
** — Stats from 2022
What to know about the Colorado Rockies
The Rockies are coming off a 103-loss season, the first 100-loss year in franchise history. Unfortunately for Rockies fans, there does not appear to be much reason for optimism this year. The Rockies are bringing back largely the same roster, with only a handful of additions sprinkled throughout the roster. They will be counting on many of the same position players as in previous years, including DH Charlie Blackmon, 1B Kris Bryant, 2B Brendan Rodgers and 3B Ryan McMahon. They did receive a breakout year from LF Nolan Jones last year; Jones hit .297/.389/.542 with 20 homers in 106 games as a rookie. The Rockies recently gave SS Ezequiel Tovar a seven-year, $63.5 million deal, extending the contract of their slick-fielding shortstop.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: DBacks updates: Arizona jumps out to another early lead