Diamondbacks: Rockies Make History, Grab 2 of 3

The Arizona Diamondbacks dropped two of three against the Colorado Rockies to begin the new season with the Rockies smashing home run after home run against the Diamondbacks new-look pitching staff.

It wasn’t quite the opening series the Arizona Diamondbacks were hoping for, but there’s still plenty of baseball left to be played (as the old cliché goes).

After splitting the first two games of the series Monday and Tuesday, the Diamondbacks dropped game three Wednesday afternoon to the Colorado Rockies by the final of 4-3.

Other than wins and losses, the series made a couple of national headlines over the last three days, neither of which play in the Diamondbacks favor.

In fact, the biggest story to come out of Phoenix was Zack Greinke’s uncharacteristically bad start on Monday night. Greinke, the Diamondbacks ace of the staff, went four innings and gave up seven runs, all earned, on nine hits.

He also allowed three home runs, while walking one and striking out two in route to his first loss of the year. Greinke is currently sporting a 15.75 era.

That certainly wasn’t what the Diamondbacks had hoped for coming into the season. Manager Chip Hale was pretty critical after the game, blaming the media for hyping up Greinke so much during the off season. He has sense apologized for his remarks.

The D-backs went on to lose Monday night 10-5.

On Tuesday, their pitching woes continued, but it was the offense that stole the show.

Newly acquired starter Shelby Miller got the start in game two. Miller, who posted a 3.02 era last season for the Atlanta Braves, gave up six runs in his six innings for Arizona. All of a sudden, the top two pitchers for the Diamondbacks were their worst enemies.

There’s 206 million dollars and a no. 1 draft pick at work folks.

Fortunately for the D-backs, they managed to squeeze out a 11-6 victory as the offense got hot and the bullpen shut down the Colorado hitters the rest of the way.

Paul Goldschmidt hit his first home run of the year and picked up four RBIs on the night.

On Wednesday, Patrick Corbin was simply out-dueled by the youngster Tyler Chatwood. Corbin went seven innings, but gave up all four of the Rockies runs. Chatwood, in his first game back since Tommy John surgery, pitched a gem. He held the Diamondbacks to two runs, one earned, over 6 1/3 innings.

It was story come full circle for Chatwood in almost the most literal way possible. His last start before heading to the Disabled List came on April 29, 2014 against, you guessed it, the Diamondbacks.

When he left Chase Field two years ago, his future was uncertain. After today, looks like things are moving up for him.

The other major headline over the series was the story of Rockies rookie shortstop Tyler Story, who became the first player in the modern era (since 1900) to hit a home run in his first three games of his career.

Story made is major league debut Monday against Greinke and all he did was smack two home runs off of him. He became the first player in history to homer twice in his debut.

He picked up his third homer of the season Tuesday off of Miller and hit his fourth Wednesday off of Corbin.

Miller called it an honor and said it was all “surreal,” according to MLB.com. 

For the Diamondbacks, they’ll simply move on to the weekend ahead. If the Rockies proved to be tough, they have a mighty task ahead of them as they host the Chicago Cubs for three games.

Many predict the Cubbies will win it all this season for their first title since 1908 – which is the longest drought without a championship for any team in any sport (the Arizona Cardinals are second on that list).

Next: Week One MLB Power Rankings

The Cubs looked like champs right out of the gate as they swept the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in two games in California, outscoring them 15-1.