Colorado Rockies defeat Oakland Athletics 5-2 – MLB Update
National League’s Colorado Rockies defeated Oakland Athletics after a close confrontational 5-2 game Sunday, March 27 in the Cactus League at Salt River Fields in Pima County Arizona.
With this triumph, the Rockies have improved their spring record to 20-9.
The game was scoreless until the sixth inning when Rockies’ Alfredo Amezaga doubled on a fly ball to centre-fielder Ryan Sweeney that helped Willy Taveras on third base to score. The Rockies moved the lead 2-0 in the seventh inning when Athletics’ hurler
Gabe DeHoyos tossed three balls allowing Mike Jacobs to walk.
Athletics bounced back immediately and scored two runs in eight innings to balance the outing. Josh Donaldson scored on Sweeney’s fly ball to centre-field followed by Shane Peterson’s single. The club, however, could not retain advantage for long as in the
bottom of eighth the Rockies verified their class posting a three runs lead that remained invincible.
Felipe Paulino washed out the Athletics hopes to bounce back in the ninth inning with his impressive swinging throws with one strike-out. His victim was Oakland’s right-fielder Jermaine Mitchell who struck-out swinging. Josh Donaldson followed Mitchell’s
out to right-fielder Michael Daniel.
Rockies’ starter Ubaldo Jimenez looked tremendous in six lockout innings without permitting any score. Jimenez, who will open on Friday against Arizona Diamondbacks, struck-out three and allowed one walk.
Rockies’ manager Jim Tracy seemed pleased of Jimenez during his meeting with reporters after the game.
"He's the ace of our staff and he's awfully good," Tracy said of Jimenez. "He's become the ace for a reason. He fields his position well."
"I am 100 percent ready for the season to start," Jimenez said. "I'm happy to be opening at home in front of our fans. We all feel like we have some unfinished business."
The Rockies looked good during their game against the Athletics. The team is working hard to improve in various areas and play like a unit. The Athletics also showed great promise on the field, as they took on the Rockies. Both teams are warming up for the
regular season which is about to start in just a few days time. It is important for the teams to finalise their strategies before the regular season so that they can start off with a victory in their first game.
Colorado put in a brilliant effort as they managed to restrict the Athletics’ offence. Oakland fought had during the game, but were struggling throughout as they were unable to get their offence properly started. It will be interesting to see how the Rockies
carry their winning momentum into the regular season. The Athletics will be looking to improve their performance in their next match-up.
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