Colorado Rockies Morning After: Defensive Gems, Pitching Earn Series Victory

In the muck and wet of San Francisco’s AT&T Park, Antonio Senzatela and Colorado Rockies team defense rose to the occasion on Sunday.

Colorado recorded a 4-3 win on Sunday to take three of four games from the San Francisco Giants. The win not only kept the Rockies atop the National League West standings at 9-5 but also marked the first time in Colorado history that the Rockies had won a four-game series in San Francisco.

Yes, what has been a magical season thus far through 14 games wrote another chapter on Sunday. As the Rockies prepare for their first off day of the 2017 season, let’s look back at some of the defensive gems that helped the Rockies to victory on a wet day in the City by the Bay.

Yes, Tony Wolters, we see you…

We also see you, DJ LeMahieu…

The defensive highlights were pretty, but might not have mattered without yet another stellar performance from Senzatela, who is looking more like a veteran than a rookie pitcher who just completed his third career start.

Colorado Rockies

Senzatela threw seven sparkling innings, allowing just three runs (none after the first inning) while scattering seven hits (just four after the first inning). He also didn’t issue a walk as he moved to 2-0 on the season.

Colorado’s Mike Dunn, Adam Ottavino and Greg Holland combined for a perfect eighth and ninth inning, striking out three of the six batters they faced to secure the win.

Big moment: With a 4-3 lead, Senzatela gave up a leadoff double to former Rockies catcher Nick Hundley to open the seventh. Rather than give the appearance of a rookie who might be running out of gas, the 22-year-old right-hander sat down the next three Giants in order … and the ball never left the infield.

Think about this: Looking back on our site’s rankings of Colorado’s 40-man roster before the season began, it’s interesting to see what assets the Rockies have been missing but yet have still posted a winning mark (and lead the National League West) 14 games into the season.

Our team of writers ranked Jon Gray as third on Colorado’s 40-man roster in terms of his upcoming impact on the season. Joining him on the shelf and in the top 15 were Ian Desmond (#7), David Dahl (#8), Chad Bettis (#13) and Tom Murphy (#15). That’s one-third of the top 15 players who are currently unavailable to Colorado. Only Gray has had any impact on the current season.

Next: The 5 Most Interesting Colorado Quotes We Heard Recently

Colorado’s 9-5 mark is a testament to team depth. Also, we readily admit when we’re wrong. Looking back on our staff ranking, we had Senzatela ranked 36th of the 40-man roster. He’s obviously proved our forecasting wrong … and we are glad he did.