Rangers right-hander Jon Gray and Rockies lefty Austin Gomber engaged in a sensational pitching dual Friday night at Coors Field. But 37-year-old Charlie Blackmon stole the show.
The veteran ripped a two-out, two-run double off of right-hander Yerry Rodríguez in the eighth inning to lift the Rockies to a 4-2 victory and give them their first winning streak of the season.
By winning two in a row — the Rockies beat the Giants on Thursday — the Rockies snapped a streak of 51 games without consecutive wins (37 games in 2024), the longest stretch in franchise history.
Leave it to Blackmon, a franchise icon, to be the difference-maker.
“I’m not a big, rah-rah, super-emotion guy, but I do like to come through in big spots and big team situations,” said Blackmon, who had tied the game in the seventh by sprinting from first to home on a shallow popup to center that turned into an error. “I like to succeed, so I was really happy about that.”
Blackmon’s double was his 598th career extra-base hit, leaving him one shy of tying Hall of Famer Larry Walker for the second-most in franchise history behind Hall of Famer Todd Helton. Blackmon is hitting 11 for 26 (.423) with runners in scoring position this season.
Brenton Doyle sparked the winning rally with a one-out single and a stolen base, and Jake Cave was intentionally walked before Elehuris Montero whiffed for the second out.
Up stepped Blackmon for his go-ahead double.
“I say it all of the time, whenever people talk to me about Charlie, ‘That’s the player I want my kids to watch play the game,” Doyle said. “Because he does it the right way. And he plays hard every single game.”
Gray, pitching at Coors Field for the first time since he left the Rockies for the Rangers after the 2021 season, pitched six innings, giving up one run on eight hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 2.36 and struck out at least seven for the fifth time in eight starts. Over his last eight games (seven starts), he’s posted a 1.50 ERA.
For Gray, returning to Coors Field was special.
“They’re all good emotions,” said Gray, who pitched for the Rockies from 2015-21. “There are definitely some memories. Everywhere I look, there’s a memory. And playing against some old teammates, too. That’s always strange.
“These fans are great here. They’re awesome. I don’t think I deserve half the love I get, so it’s really nice. It just makes this place a fun place to come to. I come here and I get a good feeling. So it’s nice.”
Manager Bud Black called Gomber’s outing “outstanding.”
“It was a pitchers’ dual,” Black said. “Both pitchers were great. And Jon has been throwing the ball well. The last few starts he’s had a live fastball and he’s always had a good slider.”
Gomber pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on five hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 3.43 for the best eight-start stretch to start a season in his career.
Though Gomber pitched a terrific game, he ran into trouble in the seventh.
Ezequiel Duran reached on a 50-foot infield single to third baseman Ryan McMahon and Leody Taveras reached on a two-out swinging bunt when Gomber was charged with a throwing error.
Although Gomber had thrown only 82 pitches and needed only one out to escape, Black gave him the hook and brought in right-hander Justin Lawrence to face the right-handed hitting Marcus Semien. Black’s move backfired because Lawrence walked Semien to load the bases and then walked Seager to force in a run and give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.
After the game, Black explained his decision.
“I liked the matchup of (Lawrence) vs. Semien,” Black said. “Semien vs. Gomber would have been the fourth time through. … I like Lawrence facing right-handers and I didn’t want ‘Gomby’ facing Semien a fourth time.”
Gomber said he understood Black’s move.
Colorado knotted the game in the bottom of the frame on an error by Taveras in center. The Rockies’ rally began when Blackmon drew a leadoff walk off reliever Jacob Latz. After recording two outs, Latz gave way to Grant Anderson, who coaxed Elias Diaz into a popup behind second base. Taveras rushed in to make the catch but dropped the ball, and Blackmon, running hard from first, slid home to tie the game.
The Rockies struck first. In the fifth, Ezequiel Tovar, coming off a three-hit game on Thursday, ripped a one-out double to left off Gray’s 1-1 slider. Gray fanned McMahon for the second out, but Diaz drove Gray’s 2-2, 93.4 mph fastball into right field to score Tovar.
Texas wasted no time tying the game. Corey Seager led off the sixth with a 403-foot line-drive homer to right center. He ambushed Gomber’s first-pitch curveball, scorching it at 108.2 mph. Seager’s homer ended Gomber’s 14-inning scoreless streak, dating back to the fifth inning of his April 28 game vs. Houston in Mexico City. The 14-inning streak was the longest by a Rockies pitcher since 2021.
“It’s nice to win back-to-back games for sure because it’s something we’ve been struggling to do,” Gomber said. “I don’t know if there is one specific thing that’s been working for me. Each game it’s kind of been something different.
“I thought I had a really good curveball tonight and threw some good changeups. I’m executing pitches. I’m just throwing it where (catcher Elias Diaz) calls for it. And I’m just throwing it where I want to throw it.”
Gomber also applauded the Rockies’ defense. Second baseman Brendan Rodgers made a diving stop at second to squelch a Rangers’ rally in the third and right fielder Sean Bouchard robbed Semien of a hit to end the fifth. In the sixth, Cave, playing left field, threw out Jonah Heim trying to stretch a single into a double.
Saturday’s pitching matchup
Rangers LHP Andrew Heaney (0-4, 4.50 ERA) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-3, 5.54)
6:10 p.m. Saturday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Feltner has come close to pitching a couple of gems this season, but two rough innings tripped him up. Last Sunday at Pittsburgh, he mowed down the Pirates for five innings before they scored four runs in the sixth. Feltner gave up five runs total on eight hits with no walks and three strikeouts. In his previous start at Miami, he completed a career-high eight innings before stumbling in the ninth. Feltner, 2-7 with a 7.16 ERA in 15 career starts at Coors Field, has never faced the Rangers.
Heaney has posted a 1.38 ERA over his last two starts to slice his ERA from 6.26 to 4.50. The lefty has not issued a walk in his last three starts. He’s coming off a no-decision in the Rangers’ 4-2 win at Oakland on Monday. Heaney is 3-2 with a 3.22 ERA in six games (five starts) vs. the Rockies. He is 2-1 with a 3.10 ERA in three starts at Coors Field. He last pitched at Colorado on Sept. 13, 2020, notching a win with a solid seven-inning performance — three runs allowed on eight hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.
Pitching probables
Sunday: Rangers TBA at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (0-6, 6.35), 1:10 p.m.
Monday: Rockies TBA at Padres RHP Randy Vasquez (0-1, 4.50), 7:40 p.m.
Sunday: Rangers TBA at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (0-6, 6.35), 1:10 p.m.
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