Colorado Rockies outshine Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 – MLB Recap
The Colorado Rockies defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 5-4 in the first game of their three-match regular series encounter on Monday, July 16 at Coors Field in Denver.
Despite losing against the Philadelphia Phillies in three-match series 2-1, the Rockies’ played better against the Pirates and maintained some calm.
They grabbed the definitive lead in the fifth and later kept it with extreme power play.
The entire Rockies' roster looked confident and left the home field victorious with a one run advantage.
Rockies’ starting rotation played a balanced game and did not make any big mistakes. They also managed to restrict their opponents to score only four runs.
Starter Jeff Francis pitched five innings and gave one run on six hits along with one earned. Though he was able to retire only hitter but his ERA remained consistent at 4.76.
Rockies' relief pitcher Rafael Betancourt gave up two runs on two hits as his ERA remained consistent at 3.27.
Closer Rex Brothers pitched 0.2 innings and gave up one run on two hits while his ERA stayed persistent at 3.93.
"I threw my best pitch and he put a swing on it," Brothers said. "The main thing was we got out of that inning and won it in the bottom."
Not only the pitchers but the Rockies' batting line-up also performed tremendously and proved their valour. They never showed any loop-holes to their opponents and finally won in the end.
Centre-fielder Dexter Fowler’s late swing proved one of the winning factors for the Rockies. He did well on his four at bats with one hit and an important RBI.
"I knew he was going to throw me a lot of sliders, but I was waiting on a fastball and he threw me one," Fowler said. "We knew we were going to put something together."
Later in the game, Pirates' manager Clint Hurdle looked disappointed on his team’s poor effort as he said, "For the fans that stuck around, that was a pretty exciting last 20 minutes, I was very happy with the battle back. You never know what's going to happen."
Starter Jeff Karstens’ poor pitching was also one of the main reasons the Pirates lost as he gave up four runs on six hits.
He played poorly and pitched too many way-ward deliveries which at the end cost the Pirates dearly.
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