Rockies Defeat Diamondbacks For 7th Straight Win

The Colorado Rockies defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 on Friday night. This extended their winning streak to 7 games and pushed their home record to a perfect 7-0. Tonight the competition was ratcheted up a notch with the Arizona Diamondbacks as the opposition. The Snakes sent ace Ian Kennedy to the mound in what promised to be a good test for the upstart Rockies.

What might be a worst case scenario. Image: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Thanks to a Troy Tulowitzki home run and outstanding pitching, the team rose to the occasion. So how on earth could this be a bittersweet victory?

Because Jhoulys Chacin left the game with an injury. Worse news: it is reported to be a left oblique injury. Worse still: it appears serious (is there such a thing as a minor oblique injury in baseball?). Worst: according to Denver Post writer Patrick Saunders, Chacin seemed worried about the injury. I know next to nothing on the medical side of things, but this chatter is making me worry it will be sometime later this summer before Chacin returns to the rotation. Hopefully not. Really, really hopefully not.

Chacin has been nothing short of stellar this season. With his 6.1 scoreless innings tonight, his season stats look like this: 2-0, 11 K’s, 5 BB, and a 1.96 ERA. Yea yea small sample size…consider it acknowledged. But if you pulled any Rockies fan aside during spring training and told him/her that Chacin would have those numbers early on, he/she would have kissed you right on the mouth out of pure joy at the mere prospect of such a scenario.

So here we are. The shine of the Rockies’ 12-4 start has not worn off, but one of the big “if’s” might have turned against them. The news in the coming days will tell us if the team will be relying on Drew Pomeranz or another option from AAA in the near future, and for how long.