Rockies rally past Mariners, get four innings from Quintana in 5-3 win

DENVER — Rockies Report, Game 155:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: “It is one of my favorite wins of the season,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said.

And some of that has to due with the fact that it looked for a while like matters would go the opposite way on Saturday night at Coors Field — just as they had in 11 of the Rockies’ previous 12 games heading into Saturday night.

Heading into the seventh inning, the Rockies trailed 3-1, with both of Seattle’s runs coming on homers within the first three innings. But in the seventh inning, the Rockies flipped the night on its ear, scoring four runs as they batted around en route to a 5-3 win in front of 34,457 on Saturday night.

The rally started thanks to a Zac Veen single followed by patient at-bat from pinch hitter Adael Amador that resulted in a one-out single to right field. Then the Rockies got a swinging bunt RBI from Jake McCarthy and a TJ Rumfield grounder up the middle that took a funky hop as Seattle shortstop J.P. Crawford prepared to field the ball, allowing Amador to score as the tying run.

After Rumfield’s game-knotting single, the Mariners turned to their third pitcher of the inning in right-hander Cooper Criswell. He walked Hunter Goodman in five pitches to load the bases, then faced Cole Carrigg, who, with a 3-2 count, dropped a soft fly-ball single into right-center field, scoring two to put the Rockies in front for the first time all night.

“That was an impressive seventh inning by our guys,” Schaeffer said.

It allowed the Rox to emerge victorious on a day when they honored Todd Helton by unveiling a statue of the Baseball Hall of Famer outside the home-plate entrance and the junction of 20th and Blake Streets.

Colorado improved to 57-98 as it seeks to dodge what would be its fourth-straight 100-loss season; the Rox still need to go 6-1 the rest of the way to avoid that ignominious fate.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

In his first start since May 24, Jose Quintana overcame a mistake to Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh that landed 472 feet away in the left-center field stands to go four innings, leaving with the momentum of a 1-2-3 inning before handing the baton to Colorado relievers Nick Frasso, Juan Mejia and Brennan Bernardino, who handled five innings of scoreless work to give the offense a chance to flip the game with a rally.

Quintana found trouble when he issued a two-out walk to Seattle right fielder Dominic Canzone immediately before Raleigh punished a hanging sinker. A Randy Arozarena homer in the third inning accounted for the other run at Quintana’s expense.

But he escaped further trouble in the third inning when Cole Carrigg ran down a Josh Naylor shot in deep right center field, stranding a pair of baserunners. After one more inning, Quintana’s night concluded after 70 pitches, with five hits, a walk and two strikeouts to his name.

Quintana told media after the game that he ended up throwing more pitches than he expected.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Brennan Bernardino recorded the final out with a runner on second base.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 23 — Current length in games of TJ Rumfield’s on-base streak.

WHAT’S NEXT: The series finale on Sunday afternoon. Kade Anderson will start for Seattle; Tomoyuki Sugano will make his final home start of the season for the Rox. First pitch from Coors Field is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. MDT.

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