Colorado Rockies: Tyler Anderson shines in win over Dodgers

After losing four straight games, the Colorado Rockies picked up a much-needed 9-8 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday afternoon. On Friday, the Rockies had the opportunity and goal of picking up a second straight win … and they achieved that goal. A pitching battle between Tyler Anderson and Rich Hill culminated in a 3-1 victory for the Rockies, and started this series off on the right foot.

While there were many key plays that took place in this one, we cut it down to the three most important moments from a great Rockies win.

An early grab in the outfield

Tyler Anderson has given up 14 runs in the first inning of baseball games this season. As soon as he delivered his first pitch, it looked like number 15 was on its way. Noel Cuevas had other plans, however.

Chris Taylor drove the first pitch of the game to the right field wall, causing Cuevas to have to leap into the wall in order to make the catch. It was just one out, but also was a relief and settled Anderson. He would then strike out the next two batters to end the inning.

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Anderson would finish the night pitching eight innings, only giving up four hits, a walk, and having eight strikeouts. Not to mention that he also had two singles of his own. It is no secret that Colorado’s bullpen has had a rough time this season but they weren’t needed on Friday night (except for one inning from closer Wade Davis). Anderson put the team on his back in this one.

"“All night, he was the aggressor,” Colorado manager Bud Black said of Anderson after the game."

Pat Valaika coming through

With his first home run of the season in the fifth, Valaika was able to provide one of the three runs scored in the game for Colorado, all three coming from solo homers. It was the 15th home run for Valaika in his career, and it is something that the Rockies hope that he will be able to do more of as this season continues.

Besides those three homers, the Rockies really never threatened on offense in this one. While they ended up with six men left on base, it really never felt like they were going to drive them in.

On the other side, with the exception of a Justin Turner homer in the ninth, the Dodgers did not have a runner advance to second base in the whole game.

Story thrown out at second

After Arenado crushed his 20th home run of the season, it looked like the Rockies were getting set to put up some insurance runs in the eighth inning. Trevor Story would single to right, and sequentially steal second. However, this play would be put under review, and Story would end up being called out for the fourth time this season. Desmond would then ground out to the pitcher to end the inning.

Story leads a team that rarely steals, having 10 stolen bases to his name. He could not get number 11 on Friday.

Next: Comparing Colorado's first half of 2018 to the first half of 2017

Wrapping up

The Rockies would end up closing it out with a third solo homer by Chris Iannetta in the ninth, and securing a 3-1 win. This now gives them a two-game winning streak as they move into the second game of this series on Saturday evening. This was the longest outing of the career of Tyler Anderson and, hopefully for Colorado, he will provide many more games like this one in the future.