The Arizona Diamondbacks have delivered two fierce beatings to the Colorado Rockies and will look for another offensive-laden performance when the teams meet Saturday in Phoenix.
Arizona outscored Colorado 23-4 while winning the first two contests of a season-opening four-game series.
The Diamondbacks rolled to a 16-1 victory in Thursday’s game, including a franchise-record 14-run third inning. They followed with a 7-3 triumph on Friday.
Arizona racked up 18 hits on Thursday and 14 on Friday.
“It’s definitely contagious,” Diamondbacks center fielder Alek Thomas said after Friday’s victory. “You definitely want to be a part of it. All of these guys, having good at-bats, putting good swings on balls, it’s been pretty fun these past few days.”
Thomas slugged a three-run homer in the sixth inning to break open Friday’s game. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Christian Walker hit back-to-back homers in the first inning. It was the second straight day in which Gurriel homered.
Joc Pederson went 4-for-4 in his Arizona debut and Ketel Marte recorded his second consecutive three-hit game.
“Another emotional day with a ton of energy in our dugout and in the stadium,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “You’re always concerned to have a little bit of a letdown, but our guys came out in the first inning and were ready to perform. That seems to be the theme early on.
“And that’s very pleasing to me when your team walks out on the field and they’re ready to make statements from the first to the last pitch.”
Friday’s victory was the Diamondbacks’ 12th in 15 meetings with the Rockies since the start of the 2023 season. It also was the 2,000th regular-season victory in Arizona history.
Colorado will look to get off the mat on Saturday.
The Rockies have 11 hits in the series and are just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Elias Diaz hit a solo homer, and Charlie Blackmon clubbed a run-scoring triple and scored on a wild pitch on Friday.
In addition, the Rockies’ pitching was subpar for the second straight game.
Kyle Freeland was pounded for 10 runs and 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings on Thursday, and Cal Quantrill gave up five runs and nine hits in five innings in his Colorado debut on Friday.
“It wasn’t my best day, and I wasn’t really commanding the fastball the way I wanted to,” Quantrill said. “I could tell right away in the first inning, and we had to go to our second and third game plan pretty quick.”
Colorado hopes to receive a better pitching effort when left-hander Austin Gomber takes the mound on Saturday.
Gomber went 9-9 with a 5.50 ERA in 27 starts for the Rockies last season. He has won nine games twice during his three seasons with the team.
Gomber, 30, went 1-0 with a 5.56 ERA against Arizona last season. Overall, he is 3-0 with a 5.35 ERA in 10 appearances (six starts) against the Diamondbacks.
Marte is 7-for-16 with two homers against Gomber, and Walker (4-for-11) also has gone deep twice against him. Thomas is 1-for-9 vs. Gomber.
Left-hander Tommy Henry will take the mound for Arizona on Saturday. He went 5-4 with a 4.15 ERA in 17 appearances (16 starts) last season.
Henry, 26, missed the last two months of the 2023 regular season plus Arizona’s run to the World Series due to an elbow injury.
Henry has won all three career starts against the Rockies and has a 3.57 ERA in 17 2/3 innings. He went 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA in two starts against Colorado last season.
Ryan McMahon is 4-for-8 with two doubles against Henry. Blackmon and Kris Bryant are both hitless in three at-bats against him.
–Field Level Media