(SportsNetwork.com) – The Arizona Diamondbacks shoot for a series win over the
NL West-rival Colorado Rockies Wednesday night at Chase Field.
The Diamondbacks lost Monday’s opener by a 5-4 score, then halted a four-game
losing streak with a 12-5 pounding of the Rockies in the middle portion of
this series.
Mark Trumbo highlighted a three-run first inning with a two-run triple and
belted a two-run homer in the fifth. Trumbo had four hits and three runs
scored, David Peralta hit a two-run homer and Paul Goldschmidt finished with
three hits, three RBI and a pair of runs scored.
Things got scary in the second inning after Arizona starting pitcher Archie
Bradley was struck in the head by Carlos Gonzalez’s line drive in the second
inning. Play was halted and the medical staff was summoned after the pitcher
fell down and was motionless on the mound. He was conscious, but bleeding.
Bradley eventually walked off under his own power and responded to the crowd’s
cheers with a thumbs-up gesture.
“It was really tough,” Trumbo said on Bradley’s injury. “He seems to be in
good spirits so that’s good news.”
Arizona head athletic trainer Ken Crenshaw informed the media after the game
that Bradley’s prognosis was positive and that he did not have a concussion.
“For me, as a hitter, it was a nightmare,” Gonzalez said. “It’s something you
don’t try to do, especially to a guy like him, who is really young and is
starting his career. It’s devastating. It just ruined my night. It just ruined
everybody’s night.”
Andrew Chafin relieved Bradley and earned his first career win after giving up
two runs on six hits with four strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings.
The D-backs are 2-5 on an eight-game homestand and will play the next six
games on the road against Los Angeles and Colorado.
The Diamondbacks have lost three of Josh Collmenter’s four starts and he will
take the mound Wednesday. Collmenter is 1-3 with a 3.65 earned run average and
allowed three runs across six innings of a 4-1 defeat versus Pittsburgh on
Friday.
Collmenter, who tossed a four-hit shutout in a 9-0 win at San Francisco the
previous time out on April 17, looks for his first win at home and is 0-3 with
a 5.74 ERA on the Chase Field mound.
The right-hander is 2-1 with a 4.07 ERA in 18 career games (8 starts) against
the Rockies.
Colorado had won four of five games before taking one on the chin last night.
Kyle Kendrick continued to struggle since his Opening Day gem and fell to 1-3
after surrendering eight runs and 10 hits, including a pair of homers, through
4 1/3 innings. Jorge Rondon gave up three runs in the ninth.
“They swung the bats really well,” Kendrick said. “Obviously, I wasn’t good at
all. I just have to keep battling.”
Charlie Blackmon had three hits, two RBI and two runs scored to lead the
Rockies, while Justin Morneau finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and scored a run.
The Rockies will continue their trip with three games against the San Diego
Padres this weekend.
Jordan Lyles aims for back-to-back wins when he takes the mound for Colorado
Wednesday. Lyles was sharp in last Thursday’s 2-1 win over San Diego and threw
6 2/3 innings of one-run ball. He rebounded from an April 18 start at Los
Angeles in which he was reached for four runs in six innings of a 6-3 setback.
Lyle, a right-hander, has made six career starts against Arizona and is 1-2
with a 6.46 ERA.
The Rockies went 10-9 against the D-backs last season. Colorado was unbeaten
in the previous five meetings with Arizona until Tuesday’s defeat.
