Jon Gray is back to competing, and the Colorado Rockies are reaping the rewards.
Charlie Blackmon and Carlos Gonzalez each went deep, Gray pitched into the eighth inning and the Rockies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Gray (9-7) has won his last four decisions, and the Rockies have won the last five games he’s started. That includes three straight victories since a brief demotion to Triple-A to clear the young right-hander’s head.
Gray struck out five over 7 1/3 innings, helping Colorado finish the month 17-6. Gray allowed three runs, two earned, with four hits and two walks.
“I’m definitely feeling more competitive than I ever have before which is good,” Gray said. “That’s one thing I want to feel all the time out there is competitive and ask myself, ‘How good can you be today?’ and just go with that.
“Just making the game fun and playing the small games within a game has been carrying me through.”
Manager Bud Black liked what he saw.
“He probably threw a few more true curveballs tonight than the previous couple outings,” Black said. “It was working well. The change of velocity from the curveball to the fastball I think was a great variable for Jon.”
Wade Davis got his 31st save in 35 opportunities with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. He saved a career-high 32 last year with the Cubs.
Colorado went ahead 2-1 on Blackmon’s homer in the fifth. Ryan McMahon led off with a 12-pitch walk, and with two outs, Blackmon hit a 1-2 pitch into the right field bleachers. Blackmon’s homer extended his hitting streak to 13 games.
The Rockies added two runs in the sixth to chase starter Jack Flaherty (4-6). Gonzalez walked with one out and Trevor Story doubled. Story has team-leading 69 RBIs.
Chasen Shreve, making his first appearance for St. Louis since coming over in a July 28 trade with the Yankees, gave up a double to Gerardo Parra.
Colorado’s final two runs came when Gonzalez lined a homer just inside the right field foul pole off John Brebbia. Ian Desmond, who drew a one-out walk, scored ahead of Gonzalez.
Matt Carpenter led off with a home run, sending an 0-2 pitch into the right field seats. It was Carpenter’s seventh leadoff home run this season. It was the 22nd of his career, passing Hall of Famer Lou Brock on St. Louis’ career list.
“To be in the same sentence with him (Brock) is pretty special,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter, who hit an MLB-leading 11 homers in July, leads the Cardinals with 26.
The Cardinals scored two runs in the eighth, cutting the lead to 6-3. St. Louis loaded the bases with one out against Gray. Seung Hwan Oh gave up a sacrifice fly to Carpenter, and a passed ball and throwing error by catcher Tom Murphy allowed Dexter Fowler to score.
Flaherty (4-6) pitched 5 1/3 innings. It marked the first time in five starts he pitched into the sixth inning. He allowed four runs, five hits and two walks. He struck out seven.
UP NEXT
Rockies: Kyle Freeland (9-6, 3.13) will be making his first start in St. Louis and second against the Cardinals. He pitched six innings in taking a loss in a 3-0 defeat to St. Louis on May 27, 2017. The Rockies have won each of his last five starts.
Cardinals: RHP Luke Weaver (6-9, 4.70) will make his second career appearance against Colorado. He pitched a career-low two innings in his start in 2016 against the Rockies in an 11-1 loss. In his most recent outing, Weaver pitched six innings and picked up the win in a 5-2 victory over the Cubs.
AROUND THE MAJORS TUESDAY
–The Arizona Diamondbacks have overtaken the Los Angeles Dodgers atop the National League West. Zack Godley matched a career high with 10 strikeouts while pitching two-hit ball over seven innings of the DBack’s 6-0 shutout of the Rangers. A.J. Pollock’s first-inning homer cleared the high wall in center field and put the Diamondbacks ahead. Nick Ahmed hit a two-run double as part of a three-run fourth inning to give Godley more than enough support to improve to 12-6.
— Arizona took over first place with the Dodgers’ 1-0 loss to Milwaukee. Wade Miley is 4-0 with a sparkling 2.06 ERA in seven starts at Dodger Stadium after limiting the home team to a pair of hits over seven innings. Lorenzo Cain doubled home the game’s lone run in the third inning and robbed Cody Bellinger of a game-tying home run with a leaping catch at the wall to end the seventh. The outcome allowed the Brewers to move into a virtual first-place tie with the Cubs in the NL Central, thanks to some help from Pittsburgh.
–Francisco Cervelli belted a two-run homer and David Freese added a pair of RBI doubles as the Pirates won for the 14th time in their last 17 games, 5-4 over the Cubs. Gregory Polanco added a solo shot in the eighth to make it 5-3, allowing the Bucs to withstand Addison Russell’s RBI double in the ninth. Russell tried to turn his late hit into a triple, but he was called out upon umpire review before closer Felipe Vasquez retired Anthony Rizzo and Ben Zobrist to end the game.
— Houston ended its season-worst five-game losing streak and moved four games ahead of second-place Seattle in the AL West by knocking off the Mariners, 5-2. Josh Reddick cracked a big two-run homer in the ninth and was 3-for-5 to help Charlie Morton improve to 12-2. Evan Gattis also went deep in support of Morton, who struck out eight and gave up two runs over six innings.
— Khris Davis banged out his 29th home run while going 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the Athletics’ 6-2 win against the Blue Jays. Matt Olson put Oakland ahead to stay with a two-run single in the first. Trevor Cahill surrendered two runs over six innings to help the A’s get within one game of Seattle for the second AL wild-card slot.
— Cleveland’s 6-2 victory at Minnesota gives the Indians a nine-game lead over the second-place Twins in the AL Central. Edwin Encarnacion had three RBIs and Jose Ramirez was 3-for-4 with two ribbies. Trevor Bauer was reached for just two runs and four hits over 6 1/3 innings to move to 10-6.
— Masahiro Tanaka struck out eight and yielded just three hits over six shutout innings as the Yankees doubled up the Orioles, 6-3. Miguel Andujar cracked a three-run homer that put the Yankees ahead 6-0 in the fifth. Tanaka improved to 9-2 with help from Aroldis Chapman’s 29th save.
— The Yankees are within five games of the AL East lead after the first-place Red Sox suffered a 3-1 loss to the Phillies. Jake Arrieta fanned seven and limited Boston to a run and six hits over seven innings. Seranthony Dominguez put the first two runners on in the bottom of the ninth before helping Philadelphia stop a four-game losing streak.
— The Braves won their third in a row and stayed a half-game behind the NL East-leading Phillies by thumping the Marlins, 11-6. Ronald Acuna Jr. drove in two runs with three hits, including a leadoff homer in the first. Nick Markakis and Johan Camargo also homered to back winning pitcher Kolby Allard, who gave up four earned runs over five innings in his major league debut.
— Washington set a team record for runs as Daniel Murphy slammed a pair of homers and had six RBIs in the Nationals’ 25-4 thrashing of the Mets. Anthony Rendon drove in four runs and pitcher Tanner Roark delivered a three-run double for the Nats, who also had home runs from Ryan Zimmerman, Matt Adams and Mark Reynolds. Infielder Jose Reyes was torched for two homers and six runs in the eighth to complete Washington’s 26-hit attack.
— Brandon Crawford singled home the tiebreaking run with two out in the 10th inning to send the Giants past the Padres, 3-2. Evan Longoria led off the inning with a triple and scored the go-ahead run. San Francisco rookie Dereck Rodriguez had to settle for a no-decision after allowing one run and three hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings.
— Kevin Kiermaier, Daniel Robertson and Carlos Gomez drove in two runs apiece in the Rays’ 10-6 win against the Angels. Gomez singled home a pair to cap a seven-run fourth that put Tampa Bay ahead, 10-1. Ryan Yarbrough improved to 10-5 despite surrendering six runs and nine hits in five innings of relief, including Kole Calhoun’s home run and Mike Trout’s 30th round-tripper.
— The Tigers were 2-1 winners over the Reds behind Matthew Boyd, who scattered four hits and fanned seven over eight shutout innings. Niko Goodrum opened the scoring with a fourth-inning homer and Mike Gerber doubled Detroit’s lead with an RBI double in the eighth.
— Ryan O’Hearn hit a two-run homer in his major league debut and Brett Phillips added a two-run blast as the Royals beat the White Sox, 4-2. Danny Duffy scattered six hits over 5 2/3 scoreless frames to pitch Kansas City to its second win in six games. Matt Davidson belted his eighth home run versus the Royals this season, a two-run shot in the seventh.