Thirty-one pitches and a bases-loaded jam in the first inning. Not exactly a stellar beginning for Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela Tuesday night at the Oakland Coliseum.
The old “Senza” might have melted down. But the new “Senza” escaped the jam by getting the dangerous Khris Davis to pop out and then went on notch a win as Colorado cruised to an 8-3 victory over the A’s.
“I threw too many pitches in the first inning, but I told myself, ‘I need to make it through five to give us a chance to win,” Senzatela said. “And, I did it.”
Senzatela, who used to be overreliant on his fastball, said that although his fastball command wasn’t great Tuesday night, he was able to mix in a curveball and an improving changeup to get the job done.
“I thought he was throwing the ball well, I really did,” manager Bud Black said of the first inning. “It wasn’t like he was erratic. I think his stuff was good. And I have seen enough of ‘Senza” to know that when the going gets tough, he sort of rares back and makes a pitch.
“Obviously, you don’t like to live on the edge like that and walk that tightrope … but it didn’t surprise me that he wiggled out of a couple of jams. He also had a couple of clean, short innings.”
Colorado improved to 3-1, a nice beginning to a 60-game season in which every win is magnified.
Over the first four games, the ERA for the Rockies’ starters is 2.53. The bullpen has also been nails. Although Oakland scratched out a run against Daniel Bard in the eighth, Rockies relievers have allowed just two runs in 13 2/3 innings (1.32 ERA).
Though Senzatela was not sensational, he certainly was solid: five innings, two runs, six hits allowed with three strikeouts and three walks. He got behind in counts and the A’s loaded the bases again in the third, when they got a run on Mark Canha’s sacrifice fly. But Senzatela got the big outs when he needed them.
Colorado’s offense, sputtering a bit during a weekend series at Texas, shifted into high gear Tuesday night, rapping out 13 hits, led by rookie left fielder Sam Hilliard who blistered a two-run homer in the fourth off Oakland right-hander Daniel Mengden’s hanging curveball. Hilliard also hit an opposite-field double to left in the second, with that hit also coming on a curve.
“I like to pride myself on being able to go all over the field,” Hilliard said. “Whenever I start hitting balls the other way like that — for power or off the wall or for a homers — that’s when I know my swing is getting in the right spot.”
David Dahl, batting .294, added a two-run double in Colorado’s three-run eighth. All nine Rockies batters got at least one hit, something the team did only twice last season (May 10 vs. San Diego and May 22 vs. Pittsburgh).
“I think there was more discipline tonight and the guys kind of controlled the (strike) zone,” Hilliard said when asked how Tuesday’s game differed from the weekend series at Texas where the offense was out of synch. “Sometimes it just takes a couple of games for guys to get comfortable and I think we saw a little of that. It was good to see the offense get rolling again.”
Colorado got on the board first, combining back-to-back singles by Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon with a sacrifice fly to left by Nolan Arenado to take a 1-0 lead in the third. The lead grew to 5-1 in the fifth on four consecutive singles by Blackmon, Arenado, Daniel Murphy and Ryan McMahon, and a sacrifice fly by Raimel Tapia.
The Rockies and A’s conclude their two-game series on Wednesday afternoon. The Rockies are off on Thursday before hosting the San Diego Padres in their home opener on Friday night at Coors Field.
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