Anderson, Story send Rockies past Rays

Anderson, Story send Rockies past Rays

July 18th, 2016

DENVER -- continued his strong performances at home, 's two-run homer powered the offense, and the bullpen came up big as the Rockies topped the Rays, 7-4, at Coors Field on Monday in a game delayed 32 minutes at the start by rain.
After being shut out the day before, the Rockies got on the board in the first inning on 's RBI double. Story and came around to score in the fifth after reaching on walks to start the inning, and Story's two-run shot the next inning was the key blow for the Rockies' offense.
"I didn't pitch very well today, got behind a lot of hitters," said Rays starter , who was tagged for five runs over five innings. "It's hard to pitch when you're behind in the count. My offspeed I wasn't really throwing for strikes. I wish I could take back the pitch to Story -- that was just a really bad changeup."

Anderson, who won his second straight game and has a 3.26 ERA at Coors Field this season, allowed two hits and one run through the first six innings, but he found trouble in the seventh.
After issuing a leadoff walk, , and pinch-hitter each knocked extra-base hits off Anderson, ending his night with four earned runs over 6 1/3 innings.
"[My] fastball command was a lot better," said Anderson. "It was coming back a bit, so I was able to throw strikes to both sides. And really that was the main thing, especially for a team that's so aggressive. Just being able to put the ball over the plate and on the ground." 
Relievers , and combined to hold the Rays scoreless on one hit, and Estevez earned his sixth save of the season.

"Our job in the bullpen is to go out there and put up zeros," Motte said. "We were able to do that, especially with the game ending up being the way it did, a one-run game. They had a guy on third a couple times, and we were able to go up there and not let that run score and give our guys a chance to put a 'W' on the board."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Ottavino snuffs the rally: Ottavino came in relief of Anderson in the seventh and put out a crucial rally. Ottavino inherited a runner on second with one out and the top of the order up, and he struck out before coaxing a groundout from . Ottavino has not given up a run this season in five appearances spanning three innings since his return from Tommy John surgery.
"I'm about 90 percent," Ottavino said. "My stuff I feel like is just as good as ever. Obviously I've been behind in the count more than I'm used to being. To me, that's the biggest thing. Just behind in the count and giving them a shot."

Smyly's wild fourth: Smyly walked the first two batters he faced in a 32-pitch fourth inning; the Rockies capitalized on a RBI single to center followed by a sacrifice fly to go ahead, 3-1. Prior to that frame, Smyly had thrown 51 pitches through three innings.
"They got some hard-hit balls off of him," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "He was able, for the most part, to manage the damage against him until the inning where it was, I think, walk, walk, fell to a 3-1 count and ultimately give up two runs there. And the next inning he goes out and it looked like he left a changeup up to a guy that has 20-something home runs."
Up for the challenge: An eighth-inning challenge proved crucial for the Rockies, as it helped score two insurance runs. With two outs, pinch-hitter grounded a ball to third base and was originally ruled out, but a review overturned the call. The next batter, Reynolds, singled to center, and Descalso scored shortly thereafter on a wild pitch. Reynolds scored two batters later on ' single to left.

"That's huge," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "You get to go out there with a three-run lead as opposed to a one-run lead, where anything can happen. Danny hustled down the line, ended up being a big play, we got some big at-bats and big hits after that. 'Barnesy' had a big at-bat there."
Longo's big night: had two triples Monday night; that equaled the number of triples Longoria had in the 429 games he played prior to that. In the eighth, Longoria represented the tying run at third with nobody out, but was stranded when Motte retired the next three Rays in order to escape the jam.

"Tough inning right there when we didn't get Longo in off his second triple," Cash said. "We've gotta find a way to execute and to get that run in. That's the ballgame right there."
QUOTABLE
"He's pitched well everywhere. I think the changeup is a good reason for that. We've seen [] do it for years here with that changeup. When you can throw that pitch, and it's a plus-pitch, and you can throw it at any time, whether it's to get back in counts if you give up a tough count, to finish at-bats, both of those guys can do that very well. I think that's a big reason for Tyler's success so far." -- Weiss, on Anderson
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a third-inning opposite field single. It is his third hitting streak of at least 10 games this season, and his previous two streaks were part of his 32-game on-base streak from May 3 to June 6.
STORY'S HISTORIC POWER
Story's fifth-inning home run ended up plating the winning run, and it also placed him two homers short of the NL rookie shortstop record. His 22 home runs trail former Rockie 's record set in 2007, and are eight shy of Boston shortstop Nomar Garciaparra's Major League record (30 in 1997).
WHAT'S NEXT
Rays: Rookie left-hander is scheduled to start Tuesday night against the Rockies at 8:40 p.m. ET. Snell allowed two runs in six innings in his last start, but took the loss against the Angels on July 7. Tuesday's start will be his first Interleague outing.
Rockies: takes the mound against the Rays on Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. MT. Chatwood has not pitched past the fifth inning in his two starts coming off a stint on the 15-day disabled list with a mid-back strain. He has not allowed a home run in his past eight starts.
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