Rockies’ manager Bud Black turned 64 years old on Wednesday.
His birthday gift? A Colorado comeback victory.
The Rockies erased an early two-run deficit to beat the Pirates, 6-2, and complete a three-game series sweep. Colorado (34-47) next opens a four-game homestand on Thursday against the Cardinals and ex-Rockie Nolan Arenado.
The hot-at-home Rockies — 28-16 at Coors Field — kept rolling behind Jon Gray’s resilient start and a timely offense. Gray allowed two runs on two hits over six innings to win his 50th career game. Utility player Garrett Hampson went 4-for-5 and drove in two runs to punctuate Black’s party.
“We definitely knew it was his birthday,” Hampson said. “Hopefully, there is cake back there that I’ve got to get in. He keeps everybody loose. That’s what we respect about him.”
Gray’s fourth pitch of the game, a fastball to Pirates’ second baseman Adam Frazier, was belted for a triple. A Ke’Bryan Hayes sacrifice fly scored Frazier. Pittsburgh made it 2-0 with a 454-foot solo homer courtesy of outfielder Bryan Reynolds.
From then on, Gray shut down the Pirates.
“It felt out of whack early on,” Gray said. “I don’t know if it was my tempo or what. I’ll watch some more video to find out. But something just felt off today. It felt like maybe one out of every three pitches was a good pitch. It was definitely a grinder.”
Gray settled in to wiggle out of minor jams the rest of the way.
“You’ve got to cinch that belt a little tighter, come up in the second and third inning, and put up a couple of zeros. Jon did that,” Black said. “Some missed location with the fastball in the first inning. Then he found a little bit of rhythm. … That says a little something about Jon’s competitiveness and his ability to make pitches in certain parts of the game.”
Rockies’ first baseman C.J. Cron cut into the deficit with a fourth-inning solo homer — his 11th of the year — off a slider from Pittsburgh starter Chad Kuhl. The Rockies tied it in the fifth when Hampson ripped an RBI double that scored Raimel Tapia. A Cron sacrifice fly put Colorado ahead 3-2.
In the sixth, Dom Nunez’s leadoff double was rewarded with a Tapia RBI single. Another run scored when Hampson singled — his fourth hit of the game — for a 5-2 Rockies’ advantage. A Yonathan Daza pinch-hit RBI single kept the offense cooking.
Tyler Kinley replaced Gray in the seventh. He fanned two Pirates, gave up a single, and closed out the inning with a groundout. Carlos Estevez pitched a scoreless eighth. Daniel Bard closed the game.
“We’ve got a lot of guys trying to establish themselves,” Hampson said. “Everybody wants to play like they know they are capable of every single day and be a starter. It’s awesome to see people working on different things and having success. We all root for each other.”
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