Coors Field in Denver, Colorado has a way of making starting pitchers look bad. The cool, thin air and the big outfield puts a lot of balls in play that would otherwise not be in play. Both Arizona Diamondbacks starter Daniel Hudson and Rockies starter Juan Nicasio felt the sting and were back in the club house early.
The D-backs struck first, building a 6-2 lead through the top of the third inning that sent Nicasio to the showers with an unimpressive line of 2.2 innings with five hits, five walks and six earned runs.
The Rockies came right back, however, and hung some runs on Hudson and sent him to the bench with six runs, three walks, 10 hits and two homeruns allowed over 3.2 innings.
So, with the score tied at sixes, the respective bullpens took over the game and both did well. It wasn't until the eighth inning when Todd Helton drove in Carlos Gonzalez off D-backs reliever Bryan Shaw that the tie was broken. CarGo got on with a hit and then advanced to third when a throw over from the pitcher escaped Paul Goldschimidt. It was only Goldy's first error as a major league player.
Hudson will justifiably take the loss in this one. The offense did its part and the pen allowed just one run, but Huddy needed to be better and he knows it.
All seven games of the young season have been decided by two runs or less.
The D-backs have two more chances against the Rockies this weekend with Josh Collmenter on Saturday and Trevor Cahill going on Sunday.
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