Noah Spirek | @NoahSpirek | May 26, 2024
On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, the sellout crowd of 47,442 at Coors Field was treated to a Rockies series win over the team with the best record in all of baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies arrived in Denver 29-6 over their previous 35 games, and the Colorado Rockies handed them their first series loss since the first week of April.
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Colorado Rockies Game Recap
In the first inning, the Rockies used a Ryan McMahon two-run homer to jump out to a 2-0 lead, and in the second inning, they extended the lead after a great display of patience. The first two runners of the inning, Brenton Doyle and Elehuris Montero, reached on walks. Hunter Goodman then drove a first-pitch sinker from lefty Ranger Suárez into the right field corner, scoring Doyle and making it 3-0 Rockies. After a walk from Ezequiel Tovar to load the bases, the Rockies tacked on two more runs on a Brendan Rodgers forceout paired with an Alec Bohm error.
In the fourth inning, the Phillies got on the board on a RBI single from Alec Bohm, scoring Kyle Schwarber and cutting the Rockies lead to 5-1. In the fifth, Philadelphia scored again, this time on a two-out RBI single from Johan Rojas to score Brandon Marsh, making the score 5-2. Fortunately for the Rockies, this score held the rest of the way and Colorado won their 10th game in their last 16 tries.
In Sunday’s ballgame, it was imperative that the Rockies jumped on the Phillies’ starter early. LHP Ranger Suárez entered the game 9-0 in his 10 starts with a minuscule 1.36 ERA. Back on April 16 in Philadelphia, Suárez dominated the Rockies, throwing a complete game shutout on 112 pitches, while striking out eight and yielding just seven hits in the process.
The Rockies only totaled six hits in the ballgame, but they were able to garner their five runs in part due to their patience at the plate. Suárez walked a season-high four batters, all coming in the Rockies’ three-run second inning. After the second, Suárez settled in and did not allow a baserunner the rest of his outing. His final line was six innings, five runs (four earned) on just three hits and four walks. He struck out nine.
For the Rockies, Cal Quantrill shined again. He threw his fifth straight quality start as he went six innings allowing two earned runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out five. He picked up his fourth win of the season, improving his record to 4-3 (3.53 ERA). Over his past five starts, he has accumulated 31.2 innings and only allowed six earned runs. That’s good for a 1.70 ERA.
Quotes
Bud Black on thriving rotation: “Good starting pitching is the life, blood, backbone, heart and soul of an organization that consistently wins. We’re trying to get there… We got some starting pitchers banged up from Tommy John… but this group here pitches really well and they’re the reason why a lot of these games have been close to the end.”
Bud Black on gain from beating MLB’s leading Phillies: “We knew we were in for a good fight against a really good team at home with great crowds… It’s a confidence builder for a lot of guys… It’s a good feeling to beat a team that’s playing as well as [the Phillies] are.”
Bud Black on getting to Ranger Suárez: “He’s got a good mix of pitches. I think going in we wanted to make sure we got the fastball up. He gets a ton of ground balls, he’s a sinkerball pitcher, he’s got a good curveball, he’s got a good change… The only thing I saw from my vantage point was maybe too many pitches up.”
Noah’s Notes
In their win on Sunday, the Rockies won their first rubber match of the season. They had been 0-6 in such games before that.
Cal Quantrill’s quality start tonight marked the sixth consecutive quality start by the Rockies pitching staff. It is the longest stretch of consecutive quality starts since June 29 – July 7 of 2021, when the Rockies strung together 8 consecutive quality starts.
The Rockies got the win while giving Cal Quantrill five runs of support. Since 2023, the Rockies are 51-43 when their starter receives at least three runs of support.
What’s Next for the Rockies?
Tomorrow, the Rockies host the Cleveland Guardians to begin a three-game series. The Guardians come in as baseball’s (new) hottest team, winners of nine straight. Probable starters are RHP Xzavion Curry (0-0, 1.93 ERA) for the Guardians and LHP Austin Gomber (1-2, 2.76 ERA) for the Rockies. First pitch on Memorial Day is set for 2:10 MT.
Get caught up with yesterday’s recap here.
Story by Noah Spirek.
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