Colorado Rockies morning after: Don’t forget the other heroics

There was a lot to take in during Monday’s Colorado Rockies win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field. More late-game heroics set the stage for and resulted in Colorado’s third walk-off win in four days … but there was also plenty that happened long before the game went into the 11th inning that mattered on Memorial Day.

Let’s tip the hat to Jon Gray, the Colorado Rockies pitcher who started by retiring the first nine batters he faced before a “hot spot” developed on the middle finger of his throwing (right) hand that caused his day to be done earlier than he would have liked.

His final line of five hits and two runs surrendered in 5.1 innings of work (with just 84 pitches registered) was enough to keep the Rockies within striking distance of Arizona and Zack Greinke, who gave up just four hits and one run (on David Dahl‘s solo homer in the fourth) in six innings.

And please, let’s move past the tired dialogue of Gray vs. Greinke and reliving Colorado’s 2017 Wild Card loss to the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Gray has matured and has become Colorado’s second-best pitcher in the rotation this season (behind German Marquez) through his 11th start. By the way, Colorado has won six of the last eight games in which Gray has started.

"“That’s the game I want to be in right there,” Gray told Rox Pile and other reporters after the game. “I thought we did pretty well, kept the team in the ballgame and sure enough, they pulled it out for us in the end.”"

Colorado manager Bud Black saw Gray’s pitches morph as the game went along because of the “hot spot” and explained after the game that’s why he pulled him perhaps a little earlier than expected.

"“The first couple of innings, you really saw Jon making pitches,” Black said. “To the critical eye, if you really watched the game and watched the pitches he was making, they weren’t quite as sharp in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.”"

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As for the hot spot, Gray said it was bothering him in the back of his mind more than it was affecting his pitching. With Kyle Freeland having dealt with a blister issue already this season, playing it safe with Gray makes perfect sense for the Rockies.

Will it be an issue moving forward? Gray and Black seemed to downplay it after the game, but it’s worth keeping an eye on this week as well. That’s exactly what we will be doing.

Regarding the pitching, let’s also give some praise to Colorado’s relievers as well.

Jairo Diaz entered the game after Gray gave up three consecutive singles in the sixth, leading to a 2-1 Arizona lead. With runners on first and second, Diaz got a force out and fly out to end the inning.

Diaz would allow a solo shot to Nick Ahmed in the seventh, but that was the only run surrendered by Colorado’s bullpen in 5.2 innings of relief.

That includes the 10th when Bryan Shaw gave up a leadoff triple to Jarrod Dyson that was just off Ian Desmond‘s glove. Arizona never got another ball out of the infield the rest of the frame, stranding Dyson at third and keeping the game tied at 3.

And how about Colorado’s All-Star third baseman, Nolan Arenado? It was his two-run single off Arizona reliever Archie Bradley that knotted the game at 3 in the seventh. The single (along with his sixth-inning single) gave Arenado his seventh consecutive multi-hit game. It is the fourth streak of seven or more multi-hit games in franchise history. It is also the first time it’s happened since Larry Walker had multiple hits in seven straight contests from June 15-22, 2002.

Sure, Raimel Tapia and Desmond may have pushed the Rockies over to the winning side in the 11th, but there were plenty of things that happened before those two at-bats to keep Colorado within striking distance. On this homestand, the Rockies have done the little things to win games. That’s something they have to keep doing if they hope to get back over .500 and into serious contention for one of the National League postseason spots soon.