Blackmon, Jones Star in 5-Run Fifth, Lead Rockies Over D-backs 9-4 for First Win of Season

BY DAVID BRANDT

PHOENIX (AP) — Charlie Blackmon had two hits and two RBIs, Nolan Jones hit a two-run triple and the Colorado Rockies used a five-run fifth inning to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-4 on Saturday night.

The Rockies earned their first win of the season after getting outscored 23-4 over the first two games.

“The goal today was just to find a way to win the game,” Rockies lefty Austin Gomber said. “That’s what we needed to do after the way the first two days had gone. Find a way to win, come back tomorrow, try to split a series and get out of here feeling a lot better than we did.”

Colorado trailed 3-2 heading into the fifth before their big rally. The first five Rockies reached base and all of them scored.

Blackmon brought home two runs on a double down the right-field line. Jones added two more with his triple — also into the right-field corner — and then Ryan McMahon’s sacrifice fly scored Jones for the fifth run of the inning.

Ezequiel Tovar had a two-run homer in the second. Brenton Doyle added another two-run shot in the eighth.

Gomber threw 4 2/3 innings, giving up four runs, six hits and three walks. Peter Lambert (1-0) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Nick Mears pitched out of a jam in the seventh, retiring three straight batters after inheriting runners on first and second.

“That was the key to the game for me,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

The D-backs cut the Rockies’ lead to 7-4 in the fifth on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s solo homer. The Cuban left fielder set a franchise record with a homer in each of the first three games of the season.

Eugenio Suárez also had a solo homer, his first as a member of the D-backs following an offseason trade from Seattle. Corbin Carroll reached base four times.

Tommy Henry (0-1) gave up five runs, six hits and two walks over four innings.

“We didn’t pitch the ball that well today, that’s what it comes down to,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “When you get good pitching, it makes the game flow. … It wasn’t flowing the way it has been the past couple of days.”

The D-backs entered on an offensive roll, scoring 23 runs with 32 hits through two games. The 32 hits were the fifth-most for an MLB team through two games of a season since at least 1901.

Arizona stayed hot for a while on Saturday, jumping to a 2-0 lead in the first. But the team’s bats finally cooled and the D-backs hit into four double plays that killed potential rallies in the fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth.

“We couldn’t get that big knock at the right time,” Lovullo said. “That happens in this game.”

MAKING MOVES

The Rockies assigned shortstop Warming Bernabel outright to Double-A Hartford. The 21-year-old cleared waivers after he was designated for assignment.

UP NEXT

The D-backs send RHP Brandon Pfaadt to the mound on Sunday while the Rockies counter with RPH Ryan Feltner. It’s the first start of the season for both pitchers.