Chad Bettis And Rockies Take Series Finale With Padres

Thanks to the efforts of Chad Bettis on the mound and some home runs by the good guys, the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 6-3

That was a real fun game folks. Even in the Rockies’ worst seasons, they still happen, which is why it’s worth it to keep being a fan.

The story of this game was a good one, and that’s not a Trevor Story pun, though you’d be forgiven for thinking that it is. Story found his power swing after skipping last night’s game and crushed a homer to left for a much-needed insurance run in the 8th. I can now report that it is in fact very satisfying to witness a Trevor Story home run in person.

But the man of the hour was starting pitcher Chad Bettis. After a week of starting pitching performances that ranged from mediocre to just plain awful, Bettis provided our poor overworked bullpen with some rest. He worked seven innings, allowing two runs on six hits. Only one of those runs was earned thanks to a misplayed ground ball in left by Gerardo Parra. Parra’s error moved Jon Jay from first to third, setting him up to score on a sacrifice fly in the 3rd.

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More than Bettis’s facility with preventing runs was the quickness and confidence with which he worked. After Jorge De La Rosa took three fewer innings to get to the same pitch count Bettis reached today, it was refreshing to see a pitcher who had a plan and executed it. Bettis wasn’t afraid of the strike zone and he wasn’t afraid to make contact, either. He struck out 6 and walked none. Of the hits he allowed, most came off the bat pretty hard, but only Adam Rosales‘s second inning double brought in a run. Even better, Bettis seemed to work more quickly and his command to grow sharper as he went. When he struck out Rosales to end the seventh and his outing, it was unsurprising but highly impressive.

And let’s not forget Bettis’s bat! In the 5th, after catcher Tony Wolters collected his first career hit on a single to right, Bettis came to the plate and squared to bunt. But James Shields threw a pitch he liked, and he lined it to center instead. Wolters was able to get to third and eventually score. I’m a big fan of pitchers helping their own causes, so that was fun to see.

The Rockies’ offense took advantage of Shields to the tune of three solo home runs, from Carlos Gonzalez, Nolan Arenado (who also had a single), and Ryan Raburn, pinch-hitting for Bettis in the 7th. After Shields was relieved by Brandon Maurer in the 8th, Story hit his home run, and Cargo followed that with another of his own. There’s not much that’s more fun than back-to-back homers, and we got that twice today.

In bullpen news, Boone Logan is still bad, Miguel Castro is still great, and Jake McGee got his first save today, facing four batters in the 9th and retiring three of them.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the comic relief Padres’ right fielder Matt Kemp provided today. Anytime that guy does something dumb it’s funny, but he did three dumb things today, almost four. Two were at the plate, when he tried to walk on strike two in the 1st and then tried to walk on ball three in the 3rd. Both he times he wound up out, and the first time he punctuated his “walk” with a cocky bat flip that made it that much funnier when the Rockies’ music guy played “Baby Come Back.” In the field, Kemp almost dropped a soft fly off the bat of Bettis (which would have made him 0-for-4 against Bettis for the game instead of 0-for-3). Then in the 8th, DJ LeMahieu hit a fairly standard groundball to Kemp, who played it lazily and thus couldn’t stop LeMahieu from taking second.

Next: 3 Things We Didn't Like in the Arizona Series

On every level, that was a fun day at the ballpark.