DENVER (AP) - Once he pitched out of early trouble, Tyler Anderson had an easy time.
Anderson matched a career high with 10 strikeouts, Mark Reynolds homered for the second consecutive game and the Colorado Rockies routed the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-1 on Saturday night.
The left-hander escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the second inning by getting A.J. Pollock to ground into a double play. Anderson helped quash another uprising in the third by picking off Arizona’s lead runner at second base, Nick Ahmed, before racking up consecutive strikeouts to end the inning, setting the tone for the rest of his outing.
“Of course it’s uplifting,” Anderson said about dodging the jams. “It puts you in a better situation for sure.”
It was quite a turnaround from his last outing, also against Arizona. In that one, Anderson gave up a career-high three home runs in a no-decision.
“I think I just made more quality strikes, attacking down better. I had a lot more balls at the bottom of the zone,” Anderson said.
His catcher, Ryan Hanigan, said Anderson was at his best as the game wore on.
“He pitched out of some jams early and as the game went on he really settled in and was pretty dominant,” Hanigan said.
Anderson got plenty of run support along the way, too.
Nolan Arenado homered and Charlie Blackmon added three hits for the Rockies, including a double and a run-scoring triple as the surprising NL West leaders moved 1 1/2 games ahead of Arizona. DJ LeMahieu had an RBI single among his three hits, while Hanigan and Gerardo Parra each had a run-scoring single.
Anderson (2-3) went six innings, punctuating his performance by striking out six of his last seven batters.
“We had trouble scoring,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “We had runners in scoring position in the first inning with nobody out and scored once. You have to give them credit. They made some adjustments on (Patrick) Corbin and Anderson threw the ball very well. But they made quality adjustments to Corbin and they jumped on him and made it tough on us.”
Corbin (2-4), who entered with five straight quality starts, allowed a season-high eight runs and nine hits in four-plus innings. The Rockies got to him for four runs in the first, including a two-run drive by Reynolds for his 10th homer of the season.
Arenado led off the third with his eighth after singling home a run in the first.
“I made some mistakes with location on the changeup to Reynolds,” Corbin said. “It was missing spots in key situations and it’s tough keeping them off the board when you are doing that.”
Gregor Blanco, recalled from the minors earlier this week after his spring training was interrupted by an oblique injury, singled in the second to drive in the Diamondbacks’ lone run.
Chris Rusin finished up with three scoreless innings for his first career save.
FLIPPING OUT
LeMahieu made a diving stop of Brandon Drury’s sharply hit bouncer up the middle and then flipped the ball from his glove to shortstop Trevor Story, covering the bag at second to get the force on Yasmany Tomas. Rockies manager Bud Black called the all-in-one-motion catch-and-flip by LeMahieu one of the best plays he had ever seen.
STRANGE BUT TRUE
Rockies outfielders did not have a putout or an assist.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: SS Chris Owings was a late scratch from the starting lineup because of flu-like symptoms. He was feeling better as game time approached, but Lovullo opted to sit Owings as a precaution. Lovullo said Owings could be available to pinch hit if needed. … RHP Jake Barrett (right shoulder inflammation) was slated to make a third rehab appearance for Class A Visalia.
Rockies: OF Carlos Gonzalez remained out of the starting lineup because of a calf injury, but Black said Gonzalez is very close to a return. He tweaked his calf Thursday at San Diego.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: RHP Taijuan Walker (3-1, 4.19 ERA) is averaging a career-high 10.22 strikeouts per nine innings heading into his second career start against Colorado.
Rockies: RHP Tyler Chatwood (2-4, 5.40) is coming off successive losses after back-to-back wins against San Francisco in mid-April.
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