Southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez threw his longest outing as an Arizona Diamondback as his club handled the Colorado Rockies 8-2 on Thursday night in Denver.
Rodriguez only walked one batter and kept six hits at bay with six strikeouts (five via swing-and-miss) in seven innings. His longest start in 30 previous was 6.2 innings on April 23 against the Tampa Bay Rays.
He managed to get through seven frames on 93 pitches (64 strikes).
The only blemish for Rodriguez was a solo home run surrendered to Rockies first baseman Kyle Farmer in the fifth.
“He did not make any mistakes in the middle of the plate,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said of Rodriguez postgame.
He also praised Rodriguez for “working around the edges” of the strike zone.
Arizona (60-62) now has strung together three consecutive wins and is 9-4 since the MLB trade deadline. It has scored within the first three innings in 12 straight games.
The Rockies (32-89) left seven on base and missed out on their only chance with runners in scoring position.
Eduardo Rodriguez gifted with lots of run support
The D-backs’ offense got cooking early with five runs in the first two innings.
After shortstop Geraldo Perdomo worked a 10-pitch walk to lead off the game, Corbin Carroll saw another six pitches for two straight walks by Rockies righty Bradley Blalock. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. guided a fastball over the right field wall to quickly give the D-backs a 3-0 advantage.
Rodriguez avoided a first-inning jam by stranding two baserunners, and catcher Jose Herrera gave him another two runs of padding with his second home run of the year, which sent Alek Thomas (single) through home plate.
Three-time MLB All-Star Ketel Marte added to the damage with a two-RBI double in the fourth that caromed hard off the right field scoreboard. His latest run-scoring knock gave him eight in his last three games.
Marte scored Perdomo and Herrera, the former keeping his hit streak alive (11 games) with a single. He added another single in the seventh for a 2-for-4 (one walk), three-run performance.
Carroll wasn’t kept hitless, as his double in the seventh finished the night’s eight-run tally.
Lefty reliever Jalen Beeks, who appeared a bit lightheaded on the mound, allowed the only other Rockies run, a solo homer by Brenton Doyle in the ninth.
Diamondbacks’ next game
Arizona right-hander Brandon Pfaadt (12-7, 5.03 ERA) will face Colorado righty Tanner Gordon (2-5, 8.37 ERA) on Friday in the second of four games at Coors Field.
The D-backs look to improve on a 8-2 season record against the Rockies.
Looking at the NL Wild Card race, the D-backs are now 4.5 games behind the New York Mets (64-57) for the final playoff berth. The Cincinnati Reds (64-58) and St. Louis Cardinals (61-61) are the other teams standing between them and the postseason, with four and one games leads, respectively.
Arizona has 40 games to make up the deficit and six of its 12 remaining series against current playoff teams.
Listen to Diamondbacks-Rockies at 5:40 p.m. on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
