The Colorado Rockies successfully avoided the sweep in their first home series of the season, putting away the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Very strong pitching\u2014a key theme through most of the nascent season thus far\u2014helped the Rockies keep the Phillies at bay while three home runs from Rockies bats powered them to victory.<\/p>\n
Some Sugar in your Easter basket<\/p>\n
We can see why they call him \u201cTommy Sugar,\u201d because Tomoyuki Sugano\u2019s (\u83c5\u91ce \u667a\u4e4b) start this afternoon sure was sweet. The veteran Japanese righty was excellent in his Coors Field debut. He gave up just one earned run\u2014a solo home run off the bat of slugger Adolis Garc\u00eda in the second inning\u2014through six innings of work. He became the first Rockies starter of the season to go six innings and the first to notch a Quality Start. Sugano struck out five Phillies hitters while giving up just four hits and one walk. He was also efficient and commanded the zone well. Sugano threw 78 pitches, 51 of which were strikes. Sugano also did a good job keeping the ball out of the air, recording eight outs via the groundout.<\/p>\n
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View Link<\/a><\/p>\n (Easter) chicks dig the long ball<\/p>\n All four of the Rockies\u2019 runs scored in their win against the Phillies came via some much needed power swings. Mickey Moniak opened things up with a solo home run in his first at-bat during the first inning. When Hunter Goodman reached via single, rookie TJ Rumfield showed off some thump of his own by sending the ball over the right field wall.<\/p>\n View Link<\/a><\/p>\n However, Moniak wasn\u2019t one to be shown up. Perhaps to make up for losing the ball in the sun twice on defense during this series\u2014once during the Home Opener and once today\u2014Moniak sent his second home run of the game out of the park in the bottom of the fifth inning.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n View Link<\/a><\/p>\n Risen from the bullpen to deliver the save<\/p>\n It may be early in the season, but this Rockies bullpen is earning their stripes through their first three series with a combined 3.12 ERA for one of the better marks in the league. The bullpen was dialed in after taking over for Tomoyuki Sugano. Jaden Hill pitched a hitless and scoreless frame, though he also received a little help from the former Gold Glove winner Brenton Doyle. After a runner reached on an error from Edouard Julien, Doyle made an outstanding leaping catch into the wall to keep the Phillies off the board.<\/p>\n View Link<\/a><\/p>\n Brennan Bernardino worked an excellent 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts while Victor Vodnik entered the game for his second save opportunity of the season after blwoing a save in Toronto. Vodnik gave up a leadoff single to Alec Bohm before striking out Bryson Stott. There was a little sweat on a warm and sunny day when Adolis Garc\u00eda reached via a single that got past first baseman Troy Johnston, but Vodnik struck out the next two batters to end the game and earn the save.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n View Link<\/a><\/p>\n Coming Up Next<\/p>\n Starting tomorrow evening the Rockies will host the Houston Astros for a three-game series. The right-handed Ryan Feltner is scheduled to make the start for the Rockies, while the Astros have yet to announce their starter after their ace Hunter Brown was placed on the injured list today. First pitch will be at 6:40 PM MDT.<\/p>\n Join the conversation!<\/p>\n