PHOENIX — If Bud Black sounds like a broken record, it’s because he has a broken pitching staff.
Prior to Friday night’s game against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field, the Rockies manager said: “For us to get to where we want to be in the second half, we have to pitch better, and I have said that multiple times.”
And the way things are trending, Black’s going to utter those words again … and again.
Behind a stellar start by veteran right-hander Zack Greinke, the D-backs routed the Rockies 8-0. Rockies right-hander was no match for Arizona’s ace.
Greinke pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing just four hits, striking out nine and walking none. He whiffed all-star third baseman three times.
The loss was Colorado’s fourth in a row, and its club-record eight-game winning streak over Arizona came to a screeching halt. So did the Rockies’ six-game winning streak at Chase Field.
Now 10-3 with a 2.73 ERA, Greinke became just the fourth pitcher since the wild-card era began in 1995 to notch 10 wins before the all-star break for four consecutive seasons.
“He was spotting up and hitting the corners,” said . “His changeup is hard to pick up because it looks like a fastball the whole way.”
Though Dahl gave Greinke his due, Dahl was upset about being called out on strikes in the third with two runners on base. He was rung up on a fastball that was clearly far outside the strike zone. That whiff scuttled Colorado’s best chance to get to Greinke, who extended his scoreless streak to 14 innings. That’s the sixth time in his career he’s had back-to-back outings of seven or more shutout innings, and the first time since June 2-7, 2016.
Senzatela, who’s been pitching well, hung with Greinke for three innings before it all fell apart. Christian Walker broke open a scoreless game with a two-run home run in the fourth, whistling Senzatela’s 1-0, 94.5 mph, center-cut fastball into the right-field seats.
“The first three innings I was throwing the ball well, down in the zone and getting groundballs,” Senzatela said. “But then I left the ball up and they hit it pretty good.”
If the Rockies could have kept the score 2-0, they might have had a chance. But Arizona sent 11 batters to the plate in a six-run fifth inning, chasing Senzatela and then battering Jesus Tinoco, the rookie mop-up reliever. The big hit off Senzatela was a two-run double by Alex Avila, who drove in Jake Lamb, who had led off with a single, and Nick Ahmed, who had drawn a walk.
The walk by Ahmed was the at-bat that most bothered Black, because Senzatela was ahead in the count, 2-0, then lost the battle.
“Really, for me, the back-breaker was the 2-0 walk to Ahmed,” Black said. “It put guys on first and second with no outs and then Avila blooped one down into the corner.”
The big hit off Tinoco was a three-run home run to deep center by Walker, who reveled in his first multi-homer game and drove in a career-high five runs.
Colorado starters had actually been on a roll of late, posting a 3.73 ERA over their last 15 starts. It was the bullpen (6.04 ERA) that was the weak link during that span.
Senzatela, in fact, had been pitching solidly, going 4-1 with a 3.38 ERA and four quality starts over his last seven outings. But Friday night, Senzatela got rocked hard, giving up seven runs on seven hits in 4 ⅓ innings as his ERA rose to 5.32. His seven runs allowed were the most by a Rockies starter since rookie Peter Lambert gave up eight runs on June 16 vs. San Diego.
