Colorado Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez (5) crosses the plate after hitting a solo home run Monday in Arizona. (Matt York, The Associated Press)
Phoenix — After , nine hits and seven runs in just four innings Monday at Chase Field, Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez got to thinking the Rockies might know something the rest of us don’t know.
Colorado knows something that nobody is talking about. They felt too comfortable against Greinke tonight
— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez)
Trevor Story, the Rockies rookie making his big-league debut, homered twice off Greinke. Carlos Gonzalez added another. Something must be up, right? They figured out Greinke’s super-secret tell?
“Nah,” CarGo said. “He’s a pitcher we face a lot. Of course he has great control. But at the same time, he’ll attack hitters. He throws strikes. And we’ll be ready when he does.”
The Rockies bounced Greinke before he reached the fifth, with a 7-2 lead. They went on to , at 4 hours, 11 minutes.
“We went into the game trying to make him earn every out he gets,” manager Walt Weiss said.
More importantly, perhaps, the Rockies got a leg up on the string of top-level pitchers they’ll see in the National League West this season, including Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner.
“He throws strikes,” Gonzalez said of Greinke. “And when we swing at strikes, we hit hard. And good things happen.”
