Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Jonathan Herrera's sacrifice fly drove in the winning run in the seventh inning as Colorado came from behind to knock off Arizona, 2-1, in the middle meeting of a three-game set.
Rockies Run Winning Streak To Nine On Late Sac Fly
Melvin Mora went 2-for-4 with a run scored and triggered the decisive rally while Miguel Olivo drove in the other run for the hard-charging Rockies, who have won a season-high nine games in a row.
Matt Reynolds (1-0) earned his first big league win with a scoreless inning in relief and Huston Street stranded two runners in the ninth to record his 18th save for Colorado, which has won 12 of its last 14 games at Coors Field.
The Rockies stayed 2 1/2 games behind front-running San Diego in the NL West and moved to within 3 1/2 games of Wild Card co-leaders Philadelphia and Atlanta in a thickening playoff race in the senior circuit.
“We are not in unfamiliar territory, we’re in very familiar territory and we know what it takes to play baseball at this time of the year,” Rockies skipper Jim Tracy said. “We did the drill last year. We’re very familiar with it.”
Rodrigo Lopez (5-14) suffered the loss after yielding a pair of runs on seven hits and a walk while fanning four over 6 1/3 innings to remains winless over 11 starts since July 8 for the Diamondbacks, who have dropped six of their last seven.
Mora singled with one out in the seventh, advanced to third on a double by Ryan Spilborghs and scored the tying run on Olivo's base hit to leftfield that chased Lopez from the game.
Former Rockies hurler Mike Hampton was brought on to face the pinch-hitter Herrera, who flied out deep enough to center to drive in Spilborghs with the winning run.
Reynolds stranded a runner at second in the seventh and was followed by Rafael Betancourt, who worked a perfect eighth and turned things over to the Rockies closer for the ninth.
Miguel Montero singled with one out and was replaced by pinch-runner Justin Upton, playing for the first time in 10 days because of left shoulder irritation. Upton stole second base and remained there when pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds walked.
Street then struck out Gerardo Parra swinging and got Ryan Church on a called third strike to end the game.
“Rodrigo threw a great game for us but we got out-executed in the finer points of the game,” Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said. “It would have been a good game to win, for sure.”
Colorado couldn't cash in on a one-out double by Seth Smith in the second and the Diamondbacks left Tony Abreu stranded at third in the fourth following a lead-off two-base hit.
Arizona broke through in the fifth when Brandon Allen walked with one out, moved to second on a two-out single by Lopez and scored on Stephen Drew's double to left field just out of the reach of a leaping Spilborghs.
Colorado starter Ubaldo Jimenez yielded one run on six hits while walking one and fanning eight over six innings but could not garner enough support to become the first 20-game winner in team history.
Colorado climbed to 14 games over the .500 mark for the first time in franchise history...The Rockies lead the season series, 8-6...The Rockies are 18-4 at home since July 29...Eric Young Jr. went 2-for-3 for the victors to extend his hitting streak to six games. He has six multi-hit games in his last eight starts...Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez got the night off and was brought into the game as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning...Lopez is 0-3 in his career against Colorado...Drew went 1-for-4 and has 24 hits in his last 14 games.
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