Colorado Rockies morning after: Balanced offense paves way for victory

Kris Bryant had his best day in a Colorado Rockies uniform and the Rockies found balanced hitting up and down the lineup to post an 11-7 home win on Saturday night and even up the weekend series with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

For the eighth time this season, the Colorado Rockies scored double-digit runs, and it was enough to hold off the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bryant’s three-hit game, his first as a member of the Colorado Rockies, a bases-loaded triple off the bat of Connor Joe, and a home run for Brendan Rodgers provided the offensive highlights while Austin Gomber did enough in his return to the rotation to keep the Diamondbacks from gaining any kind of early momentum after Colorado jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead.

After the game, Colorado manager Bud Black pointed to the triple from Joe as a key moment of the game. The Rockies have had issues this season getting the key hit when runners are in scoring position, but that wasn’t a problem on Saturday as Colorado went 6-for-7 with RISP.

Part of that total came in part to a two-out rally in the fourth that was punctuated by Joe’s triple. Randal Grichuk started the chain with a double, then Ryan McMahon and Brian Serven each drew walks despite being down to their last strike earlier in the count. After an Arizona mound visit, Joe roped a triple to right, boosting the Colorado lead to 7-2.

Serven and Jose Iglesias were the only two Rockies starters to not record a hit on Saturday, with McMahon going 2-for-3 from the eighth batting position.

“I think that’s part of what makes a good offensive team, you need that length,” Black said. “You can’t just rely on guys at the top or the big guys in the middle. It has to come from everybody.”

And that everybody includes Bryant, who has posted a .333 average (7-for-21) since coming back from the injured list on Monday. In all, he has his safely in 16 of his 22 games in a Colorado uniform.

Colorado will look to win the series on Sunday when Chad Kuhl (5-5, 3.49 ERA) takes the mound for the Rockies against Arizona’s Zac Gallen (4-2, 3.31 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. (Mountain time).