Aaron Cook shines as Colorado Rockies defeat Arizona Diamondbacks 8-4 - MLB Update
After an ordinary season thus far, Aaron Cook finally grabbed his first win after five losses to help the Colorado Rockies overpower the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona on Friday, July 22.
Cook is pitching at an ERA of 5.84 this season and had just 14 strike-outs before this game. Although his statistics in this game were not impressive, given the league standards, they were enough to defeat his counterpart Daniel Hudson of the Diamondbacks.
Aaron Cook conceded eight hits and four runs in six innings with just a sole strike-out for his first win. His win-loss record now stands at 1-5.
The Diamondbacks started impressively with Geoff Blum’s two-run homer in the second inning. This was Blum’s first home-run this season and he is now just two shy of reaching a hundred career home-runs. Miguel Montero completed his run off Blum’s hit before
Daniel Hudson added another run to take the score to 3-0 at the end of the second inning.
Seeing Hudson score, Cook did not stay back for long and added a run for the Rockies in the third inning. Mark Ellis contributed to the scorecard in the same inning to bring the three-run deficit down to just one-run at the close of third inning.
Ty Wigginton then scored in the fourth inning to level the score at 3-3 and bring the pressure back on the Diamondbacks. Arizona suffered another blow in the fourth inning when second baseman Kelly Johnson left the game in the top of the fourth inning citing
tightness in his left calf as the reason.
With the scores intact in the fifth inning, Arizona added one more in the sixth inning helped by Montero’s second run of the game.
The seventh inning of the game turned out to be decisive. Hudson had been strong at the mound until the seventh inning when his negligent pitching helped the Rockies add two critical runs to turn the tide their way. Dexter Fowler and Mark Ellis added a run
each to eradicate the single-run deficit and impose a one-run lead which later piled up as the relief pitchers took charge for the Diamondbacks.
Hudson conceded five runs in 6.1 innings. Although he struck-out seven batters, his carelessness awarded him with his sixth loss of the season for his win-loss to stand at 10-6.
Sam Demel and Ryan Cook, who came on as relief pitchers, could not halt the momentum which the Rockies suddenly gained. Demel went for two runs in the eighth inning and Cook allowed one run in the ninth inning to hand the Rockies a win which could have easily
been theirs.
The Rockies lead the three-game series 1-0 with the second game scheduled for Saturday, July 23. It will be interesting to see how the Diamondbacks respond to this humiliation at home.
Tags: