Antonio Senzatela’s most important pitch came early.
Senzatela worked out of a first-inning jam en route to throwing seven scoreless innings in his first start of the season Ryan O'Reilly Jersey , Nolan Arenado hit his National League-leading 22nd home run and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 8-1 on Tuesday night.
Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon had three hits, including his first homer since June 20. Trevor Story had an RBI triple for the Rockies, who have won five of their last six games.
D.J. LeMahieu added a run-scoring double for Colorado, which has beaten the Giants in 14 of the past 16 games at Coors Field dating to Sept. 7, 2016.
Senzatela, recalled earlier in the day from Triple-A Albuquerque, struck out four and walked none while limiting the Giants to three hits but two of them came in the first inning. He got out of the two-on, two-out jam by retiring Pablo Sandoval, getting him to pop-out on a 2-0 changeup.
”To get out of that inning with a zero, stranding those runners, was huge,” Senzatela said through a translator. ”I settled down pretty nicely and I’m glad I gave the team a chance to win.”
Arenado said Senzatela’s ability to work out of first inning trouble helped set the tone for the rest of the game.
”Getting out of that first inning with no runs was huge,” Arenado said. ”I feel like sometimes we always give up a run in the first and lately they haven’t. He was just great Sam Reinhart Jersey , pounding the zone, throwing strikes getting ahead of guys. It was awesome. Our pitching in general lately has been huge for us and I think that’s why lately we have been playing better.”
Senzatela started in the spot vacated by struggling Jon Gray, who started for the Rockies in their season opener but was optioned to Albuquerque last weekend.
Senzatela (3-1) made the team out of spring training and began the season in the Rockies’ bullpen before being optioned on May 2 to Albuquerque, where he went 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA in eight starts prior to his recall. As a rookie last season, Senzatela had most of his success as a starter, going 10-5 with a 5.03 ERA in 20 starts.
Chris Stratton (8-6) went 5 2/3 innings and allowed eight runs on 11 hits, including Blackmon’s solo shot in the first inning as well as Arenado’s three-run drive.
”His fastball command wasn’t real sharp tonight,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ”Fastballs missed their spots there. That’s usually his forte, he commands it so well. He threw some good fastballs to Arenado and the changeup stayed in the middle. He wasn’t real sharp with his command. He threw strikes but he needed to work the edges.”
The Giants broke through for a run on Alec Hanson’s RBI single in the eighth off reliever MikeDunn.
The Giants were trailing 3-0 when Arenado broke the game open in the fifth with a three-run homer. Stratton walked LeMahieu to start the inning and Blackmon singled before Arenado drove a 3-2 offering over the left-center field wall.
GIANTS NEMESIS
Arenado has driven in 90 runs in 100 career games against the Giants, the second most among active players. Matt Kemp leads with 93 career RBIs against the Giants. Said Arenado: ”I think they bring out the best in all of us. They bring out the best in me – three World Series rings and they’ve always been one of the top tier teams in our division. It’s always a tough place to play and I always want to beat them because I always feel like they’ve beaten us in the past, a lot.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: The team’s starting rotation is nearing full strength again. Manager Bruce Bochy said that RHP Johnny Cueto is slated to be reinstated from the 60-day disabled list on Thursday, when he’s scheduled to start against the St. Louis Cardinals. Cueto was placed on the DL, retroactive to April 29 Zemgus Girgensons Jersey , because of a right elbow sprain. RHP Jeff Samardzija is slated to start Saturday’s game against St. Louis after being reinstated from the 10-day DL. Samardzija went on the DL after leaving a May 30 start against Colorado following one inning due to tightness in his pitching shoulder.
Rockies: RHP Chad Bettis has gone on the 10-day disabled list with a blister on his right middle finger. Bettis left his last start on Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers after three innings because of the finger injury. Senzatela was recalled from Albuquerque to fill Bettis’ roster spot and started Tuesday against the Giants in the place of RHP Jon Gray, who was optioned Saturday to Albuquerque.
UP NEXT
Giants: LHP Andrew Suarez (3-4, 4.18 ERA) is coming off a strong outing in which he allowed one run on seven hits over six innings in a 2-1 win against Arizona.
Rockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (5-3, 4.23 ERA) has gone 1-3 with a 5.26 ERA in eight previous starts at Coors Field this season.
After slugging their way to wins in the first five games against the Los Angels Angels, the Boston Red Sox needed some strong defense to complete the season sweep.
Jackie Bradley Jr. made a leaping catch at the wall in center to keep the Angels from scoring in the first inning and broke open the game with a two-run homer in the seventh as the Red Sox beat the Angels 4-2 on Thursday night.
”It feels good when you get the results,” Bradley said. ”Both were very pivotal for the game.”
Bradley’s shot to right was the 20th homer the Red Sox hit in six games against Los Angeles, sweeping the season series against the Angels for the first time since they joined the American League as an expansion club in 1961.
Boston outscored Los Angeles 49-12 while taking all six games, which according to the Red Sox is the first six-game season sweep in club history.
The Red Sox have won four straight and six of seven as they head to New York to open three-game series between the rivals on Friday night with first place in the AL East on the line.
Hector Velazquez (6-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out three. Craig Kimbrel earned his 24th save with a scoreless ninth inning.
With scheduled starter Steven Wright on the DL, the Red Sox had to shuffle their rotation. Manager Alex Cora said he was pleased to get four innings out of starter Brian Johnson and two more from Velazquez, setting up the bullpen to finish off the Angels.
”We got to where we wanted to get,” Cora said. ”B.J. (Johnson) was outstanding using his fastball, mixing up his breaking ball – very pleased with the way we got six innings out of those guys.”
The Angels have lost six straight Authentic Dougie Hamilton Jersey , although they were in contention in the last two games at Fenway Park.
”There’s no doubt we hit the ball harder than looking at six hits,” manager Mike Scioscia said. ”We probably squared up five other balls that they made nice plays on. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Andrelton Simmons hit a solo homer and Albert Pujols had an RBI single for the Angels, who had a potential rally going in the eighth with runners on first and second with one out but were robbed of another hit when Andrew Benintendi made a leaping catch at the wall that rivaled what Bradley did in the first.
”That was amazing,” Bradley said. ”We were able to make some big plays for our pitchers and get the win.”
Los Angeles was up 1-0 until Devers led off the fifth with his 13th homer, to center off of Jaime Barria (5-4).
Barria was pulled after giving up a one-out walk to J.D. Martinez with one out in the sixth and the score still tied 1-1. Jose Alvarez gave up a double to Mitch Moreland, with Martinez moving to third. Xander Bogaerts was then walked intentionally to load the bases, and Brock Holt drew a walk to drive in Martinez for Boston’s first lead. Alvarez then got Devers to ground into a double play to end the inning.
Barria was charged with two runs on four hits and two walks, striking out two over 5 1/3 innings.
”Jaime was good. He had to work hard to get to that point of the game,” Scioscia said. ”There was one fastball he just left down the heart of the plate and it was down to Devers and he hit it out to center. But I thought he gave us a chance to win, there’s no doubt about that.”
Bradley’s homer, his sixth, in the seventh off of Noe Ramirez pushed Boston’s lead to 4-1.
BRONX BOUND
The Red Sox were busy packing their bags in the locker room after the game and were headed to New York, where the three-game series was scheduled to open Friday. The Red Sox (55-27) hold a slight lead on the Yankees (52-26) Youth John Tavares Jersey , who were off Thursday.
While the series is big, Bradley said the division title is not on the line – yet.
”I think if you win, that takes care of everything. You don’t have to think about anything else,” Bradley said. ”You get that done, I don’t think you’ve got to worry about any other teams.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Angels: Placed rookie reliever Jake Jewell on the DL with a broken right leg that could cause him to miss the rest of the season. He’s scheduled to have surgery Friday. Jewell was carted off the field at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. … The Angels recalled RHP Eduardo Paredes from Triple-A Salt Lake and added RHP Taylor Cole to the major league roster.
UP NEXT
Angels: RHP Felix Pena (0-0, 5.40 ERA) gets his third start of the season and first on the road when the Angels open up a weekend series in Baltimore on Friday.
Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (9-2, 3.86) was on a six-start winning streak before taking the loss Saturday against Seattle. Rodriguez is scheduled to go up against Yankees LHP C.C. Sabathia (4-3, 3.18) in the series opener Friday night.