Rockies top Marlins, maintain 1 1/2-game wild-card lead
The Sports Xchange
Sep 27, 2017
DENVER -- In his brief career with the Colorado Rockies, Tyler Anderson has shown he is not only unfazed by Coors Field but can thrive pitching there.
The left-hander proved that emphatically Tuesday night by working seven scoreless innings in a 6-0 victory over the Miami Marlins, a vital victory for the Rockies in their push toward the postseason.
Colorado (85-73) leads Milwaukee (83-74) by 1 1/2 games with four to play. The Brewers have five contests remaining. Milwaukee hung on for a 7-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.
Trevor Story hit a three-run homer in Colorado's four-run first inning, and Nolan Arenado belted a two-run homer in the fifth off Marlins starter Jose Urena (14-7), giving Anderson (6-6) more than enough support considering how well he was pitching.
Since being reinstated from the 60-day disabled list earlier this month following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee July 3, Anderson is 3-1 with a 1.19 ERA in four games (three starts). Two of those starts have come at Coors Field, and Anderson has thrown 13 scoreless innings in those games.
In 20 career games (19 starts) at Coors Field, Anderson is 8-5 with a 3.39 ERA. That is the lowest career ERA for a starting pitcher who has thrown 65 or more innings there.
Anderson, who made his major league debut in July 2016, ended the second and fourth innings with double-play grounders on his way to getting 10 outs on ground balls. He gave up four singles with no walks and five strikeouts in a 92-pitch outing that included 62 strikes.
The Marlins did not get a runner to second base against Anderson until the sixth. Two singles started that inning, but Anderson struck out pinch hitter A.J. Ellis, got Dee Gordon to fly out and snared Giancarlo Stanton's bouncer to ease out of trouble.
In the first two games of this series, Stanton, who leads the majors with 57 home runs, was hitless in eight at-bats before he lined a double to left with two outs in the ninth -- only the second ball he hit out of the infield.
In the first inning, Carlos Gonzalez grounded into a double play with runners at the corners to make it 1-0. Arenado and Mark Reynolds followed Gonzalez with singles, and Story won a nine-pitch encounter with Urena and hit his 23rd homer, an opposite-field shot to right on a 95.6 mph fastball.
Arenado made it 6-0 in the fifth when he belted a two-run homer to center after Gonzalez led off the inning with a double. Arenado's 36th homer of the season soared an estimated 438 feet to center.
Urena, who had given up six runs in 26 innings over four previous starts this month, allowed nine hits and six runs in five innings with four walks and four strikeouts.
NOTES: Marlins RHP Nick Wittgren, who has been on the 10-day disabled list since July 27, underwent arthroscopic surgery to have loose bodies removed from his right elbow. ... Marlins LHP Wei-Yin Chen is done for the year and will go to Los Angeles and have his left elbow examined by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. ... Rockies SS Trevor Story's three-run homer was his second of the season. He also has hit one grand slam among his 23 homers. ... Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon is trying to become the first player in 69 years to lead the majors in hits, runs, triples and total bases. Stan Musial in 1948 was the last National Leaguer to lead in those four categories, and Snuffy Stirnweiss in 1945 was the last American League player to do it.
Sep 27, 2017
DENVER -- In his brief career with the Colorado Rockies, Tyler Anderson has shown he is not only unfazed by Coors Field but can thrive pitching there.
The left-hander proved that emphatically Tuesday night by working seven scoreless innings in a 6-0 victory over the Miami Marlins, a vital victory for the Rockies in their push toward the postseason.
Colorado (85-73) leads Milwaukee (83-74) by 1 1/2 games with four to play. The Brewers have five contests remaining. Milwaukee hung on for a 7-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.
Trevor Story hit a three-run homer in Colorado's four-run first inning, and Nolan Arenado belted a two-run homer in the fifth off Marlins starter Jose Urena (14-7), giving Anderson (6-6) more than enough support considering how well he was pitching.
Since being reinstated from the 60-day disabled list earlier this month following arthroscopic surgery on his left knee July 3, Anderson is 3-1 with a 1.19 ERA in four games (three starts). Two of those starts have come at Coors Field, and Anderson has thrown 13 scoreless innings in those games.
In 20 career games (19 starts) at Coors Field, Anderson is 8-5 with a 3.39 ERA. That is the lowest career ERA for a starting pitcher who has thrown 65 or more innings there.
Anderson, who made his major league debut in July 2016, ended the second and fourth innings with double-play grounders on his way to getting 10 outs on ground balls. He gave up four singles with no walks and five strikeouts in a 92-pitch outing that included 62 strikes.
The Marlins did not get a runner to second base against Anderson until the sixth. Two singles started that inning, but Anderson struck out pinch hitter A.J. Ellis, got Dee Gordon to fly out and snared Giancarlo Stanton's bouncer to ease out of trouble.
In the first two games of this series, Stanton, who leads the majors with 57 home runs, was hitless in eight at-bats before he lined a double to left with two outs in the ninth -- only the second ball he hit out of the infield.
In the first inning, Carlos Gonzalez grounded into a double play with runners at the corners to make it 1-0. Arenado and Mark Reynolds followed Gonzalez with singles, and Story won a nine-pitch encounter with Urena and hit his 23rd homer, an opposite-field shot to right on a 95.6 mph fastball.
Arenado made it 6-0 in the fifth when he belted a two-run homer to center after Gonzalez led off the inning with a double. Arenado's 36th homer of the season soared an estimated 438 feet to center.
Urena, who had given up six runs in 26 innings over four previous starts this month, allowed nine hits and six runs in five innings with four walks and four strikeouts.
NOTES: Marlins RHP Nick Wittgren, who has been on the 10-day disabled list since July 27, underwent arthroscopic surgery to have loose bodies removed from his right elbow. ... Marlins LHP Wei-Yin Chen is done for the year and will go to Los Angeles and have his left elbow examined by Dr. Neal ElAttrache. ... Rockies SS Trevor Story's three-run homer was his second of the season. He also has hit one grand slam among his 23 homers. ... Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon is trying to become the first player in 69 years to lead the majors in hits, runs, triples and total bases. Stan Musial in 1948 was the last National Leaguer to lead in those four categories, and Snuffy Stirnweiss in 1945 was the last American League player to do it.
