Gomber's quality start, red-hot Doyle's homer secure series win

DENVER -- The Rockies rolled to another victory Saturday night behind Brenton Doyle’s fourth home run in five games and a lights-out performance by starter Austin Gomber.

Doyle put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the second with a 408-foot two-run home run to right-center field to put the Rockies ahead in a game they ultimately won 3-1.

“He's in a good spot, he really is,” manager Bud Black said of Doyle. “And he's hitting all pitches. When a guy's going great, he's hitting everything. He's not just on one pitch. That tells me that his timing’s right, he's seeing the ball well, and he's taking good swings and not fouling balls off.”

Doyle is hitting .647 in July (11-for-17) with four homers, nine RBIs, four walks, and a steal. He is the fourth player in the 21st century to have a five-game stretch with at least 11 hits, eight extra-base hits, nine RBIs, four walks, and a stolen base, joining Josh Donaldson (June 14-18, 2016), Mike Sweeney (June 28-July 2, 2001), and soon-to-be-inducted Hall of Famer Todd Helton (May 12-17, 2001).

“I was just trying to get something up in the zone, and he hung one up there and I put a good swing on it,” Doyle said of his fourth July homer. “I’m not counting, just taking it day by day.”

But the biggest lift for the Rockies came from Gomber, who threw his first quality start since May 22 in Oakland, when he threw eight innings of one-run ball. He was nearly as good Saturday, lasting seven frames and allowing one run on six hits with three strikeouts and no walks.

“I think that's kind of like the best version of me,” Gomber said of his night. “I felt really good the last couple of weeks, and I’ve just been honing it in. I really committed to the fastball tonight, especially early in the count and down in the zone. It was just being on the plate early. And then in those middle innings, they started swinging a lot, because I earned the right with all the strikes I was throwing early.”

His only blemish was a two-out solo shot from Vinnie Pasquantino in the sixth, and that inning ended with Jake Cave crashing into the wall in the right-field corner to snare Salvador Perez’s bid for extra bases.

“That was a sick catch,” Doyle said. “It fires me up whenever I see a guy lay his body on the line like that.”

Gomber was challenged with traffic twice, once in the fourth when he let up a two-out single from Perez followed by a double to left from Hunter Renfroe. He bore down and struck out MJ Melendez to escape unscathed.

In his final inning, Gomber gave up a leadoff single to center from Renfroe and a one-out single from Freddy Fermin to put runners on first and third. He induced a shallow popup to second from Garrett Hampson and then a fly to right-center from Kyle Isbel that Doyle caught on the run.

“I felt like I was throwing the ball really well, so I just wanted to keep some zeros up,” Gomber said. “That's a big spot, first and third, one out in the seventh, we're up two. I can give up a double in the gap there to tie the game. In this park, getting those two outs is big. It's not easy to do, so I was happy I was able to do it.”

As Gomber left the mound, he pumped his fist and several veins in extreme jubilation, taking a note from the fiery Kyle Freeland, who pitched a gem for a Rockies win Friday.

“That was as strong a walk off the mound as I've seen from Gomby,” Black said. "He was fired up. That was a good one. A really good game, and a tight game, against maybe the All-Star starter for the American League, 11-2, 2.00 ERA. This guy is really good, and he's having a great year, and Gomby out-pitched him.”

The Rockies defense was solid throughout, and catcher Elias Díaz stopped a rally in its tracks in the eighth inning when he caught Bobby Witt Jr. in a rundown after a pitch in the dirt for a 2-3-6-4-5 pickoff.

“That was pretty perfectly executed,” McMahon said. “You practice it in Spring Training and hope it never comes up, but it does, and we did a good job.”

Tyler Kinley pitched a scoreless eighth, and Victor Vodnik came on in the ninth to earn his first career save in three opportunities.

“We're playing close games,” Black said. “The games we win seem to be tight. They're handling it well, and recently we've done a more dependable job out of the bullpen.”

The win made it three in a row for the Rockies for just the second time this season and secured a series victory over the Royals heading into Sunday’s finale.