The Rockies snagged their second win on Tuesday night in what was a more tightly contested ball game with their cross-town rival Calgary Diamondbacks. Steven Latos (1-0) earned his first win of the season and was dominant for three innings before running into some trouble in the fourth and fifth. He would depart after five innings and allowing only three runs on eight hits and five strikeouts, he didn’t issue a single free pass.
Down by a run, the Rockies offense came alive in the top of the sixth with a huge two-out rally to put Latos in line for the victory. A leadoff single by Robbie Holmes would get the inning started before the next two Rockies would strikeout and hit into a fielder’s choice. Mitch Murphy would then lace a single into left field to put to go-ahead run on base before a key error by Diamondbacks second baseman Brendan Sutherland loaded the bases for Player of the Game Dale Bratz. Bratz was 0-3 with a strikeout on the day up to that point, but refused to let the opportunity to change that narrative pass him by. He struck a single up the middle on a hard ground ball that would score the tying and go-ahead runs easily, but some aggressive baserunning from Rockies centerfielder Mike Goldade saw him score from first on the groundball single as well, pushing the score to 5-3 in the Rockies favour.
That would prove to be the final after Brock Lenhardt and Owen Steele both came in to provide a strong inning of relief each to close it out. The final two innings were punctuated by flashy defense by the Rockies as catcher Luke Wilson gunned down a would be base stealer to end the Diamondbacks threat in the sixth, and Bratz ended the game with a spectacular diving play up the middle at second base.
The season series with the Diamondbacks continues on Friday May 26th when the Rockies host them at their newfound home field at Webber Athletic Park for a 7:30pm start!
