On a cold-and-rainy “Bark at the Park” night at Coors Field, the Rockies doggedly hung on for a 7-6 win over the Rangers.
Right-handed reliever Juan Mejia pitched a solid ninth inning to scuttle Texas’s late-game rally and notch his third save.
“We did our best to stay away from Mejia tonight, just with the usage and workload he’s been taking on,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “With all of that going on, for him to come in and shut the door like that, when the momentum was clearly in their favor, that’s big time from Juan.
“You don’t want to take it for granted, but that’s just what Juan does. He’s calm and collected all of the time. Nothing gets to him.”
The Rangers rallied for three runs in the eighth, when they loaded the bases with no outs against struggling reliever Victor Vodnik (8.00 ERA). He gave up a leadoff double to Josh Yung, followed by two walks. Enter lefty reliever Brennan Bernardino, who got tagged for a two-run single by Ezequiel Duran, cutting Colorado’s lead to 7-5.
Bernardino walked to load the base again, and an RBI groundout by Alejandro Osuna made it 7-6. But Bernardio wriggled out of the inning by getting Kyle Higashioka to pop out to catcher Hunter Goodman in foul territory.
Before all of the late-game drama, the Rockies strung together multiple at-bats to build a big lead. Schaeffer has preached team offense ever since he took over as the interim boss last May. The Rockies delivered on Monday night, sending eight men to the plate in the first inning, five in the third, and six in the fourth.
“We just did what we have talked about, taking our walks and passing the baton on to the next guy,” Schaeffer said. “Just putting the ball in play. … Anyway, anyhow, we just kept going.”
Second baseman Willi Castro, hitting leadoff with lefty MacKenzie Gore on the mound for Texas, had a big night. Castro hit 2 for 4, blasting two doubles.
The first-pitch temperature was 44 degrees, and it rained on and off throughout the game, making for some adventures in the field and some errant throws. But veteran Rockies left-hander Jose Quintana pitched 5 2/3 innings.
“Even with the cold night, my stuff was pretty good,” he said. “I was a little worried about how the movement was going to be, with the cold night. But it was good. I felt locked in all game, attacking the zone.”
Quintana didn’t dominate, but as he’s done for most of the season, he put the Rockies in position to win. He’s pitched at least five innings in his starts at Coors Field this season, going 1-1 with a 4.03 ERA. Colorado is 10-4 at Coors Field when starters go at least five innings, but 0-9 when they don’t.
The Rangers touched Quintana for three runs on seven hits, but he never let the game spin out. Quintana’s nemesis was second baseman Justin Foscue, who hit an RBI double in the second, a solo homer in the fifth, and an RBI double in the sixth.
” ‘Q’ was awesome,” Schaeffer said. “In a situation where we need length because of our bullpen, we can count on ‘Q’ to give us all he has. He threw offspeed for strikes, kept them off-balance, kept them off the barrel.”
Quintana didn’t dominate, but as he’s done for most of the season, he put the Rockies in position to win. Colorado is 10-4 at Coors Field when starters go at least five innings, but 0-9 when they don’t.
Colorado struck early against Texas left-hander MacKenzie Gore, combining a leadoff double by Castro, two walks, and a two-run double by Ezequiel Tovar to take a 2-0 first-inning lead. Tovar, showing signs of breaking out of his season-long slump, was 1 for 3 with a walk.
Gore pitched just one inning, his start cut short by left lat tightness. He was making his first appearance against the Rockies since recording a career-high 13 strikeouts on May 19 of last season at Coors Field. He was pitching for Washington at the time.
The Rockies scored two runs in the third, taking advantage of two Texas errors, one by third baseman Josh Yung and the other by Duran at short. And the Rockies took a 6-1 lead in the fourth on back-to-back RBI singles by Brenton Doyle and TJ Rumfield.
Pitching probables
Tuesday: Rangers RHP Kumar Rocker (1-4, 4.34 ERA) at Rockies TBA, 6:40 p.m.
Wednesday: Rangers RHP Jack Leiter (1-4, 4.35) at Rockies TBA, 1:10 p.m.
TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM
