Walker Powers D-backs to Series Win Over Rockies

Walker homered twice and reached base five times as the D-backs outlasted the Rockies in a classic Coors Field game.

Games at Coors Field are never easy, as this week has proven. Despite another taxing day for the pitching staff, Diamondbacks have once again shown their resiliency. With their backs against the wall, they rallied late to defeat the Rockies 9-7 to secure a much-needed series win. Arizona has won four of their last five and back-to-back series against National League West opponents.

"It's huge, two series in a row against good teams" said D-backs first baseman Christian Walker. "We've been challenged the last handful of games as far having to come back late, just the back-and-forth, that's the nature of baseball games here. There's no lead that's safe in Coors Field, you're always a bloop and a blast away from tying it or taking the lead."

Walker was the main catalyst for the offense again today, reaching base in all five trips to the plate. He hit a pair of two-run home runs, the latter giving Arizona the lead for good in the eighth. In this three-game series, Walker was 6-for-11 with four home runs and 9 RBI.

Christian Walker refuses to lose today. pic.twitter.com/NPNpYLkTD4

— Michael McDermott (@MichaelMcD8393) August 16, 2023

"Christian, what can you say, he had an incredible series" said D-backs manager Lovullo. "He hits four home runs, and big home runs. Very timely home runs where you think 'Here's our guy, let's see if we can push across crooked numbers' and he did. He's locked in, he's hitting the ball very well. Without him, we wouldn't be in the position we're in right now."

Slade Cecconi made his second career start and despite looking wobbly at times, held the Rockies to just one run on a Ryan McMahon solo home run in the first four inning. Cecconi struck out four and walked three, using his slider to fool right-handed hitters. While effective, he wasn't particularly efficient as he needed 70 pitches to get through four. He hit Ezequiel Tovar with a pitch after another long at-bat to lead off the fifth and was promptly removed. The Rockies then took the lead in the fifth against Tyler Gilbert, but were bailed out by Luis Frías when he struck out Austin Wynns with the bases loaded.

D-backs hitters struggled to get to Rockies starter Austin Gomber for the first five innings, with Christian Walker's first inning two-run homer accounting for all their runs up to that point. In the sixth, they took advantage of a tiring Gomber as he lost the strike zone. Three walks and a bloop single tied the game before Nick Ahmed stepped up against Jake Bird with the bases loaded. Ahmed smoked the first pitch he saw and missed a grand slam by inches, hitting high off the big fences in right center, and ran out of steam attempting to leg out the grand slam the hard way.

Great hit by Ahmed to give them a lead followed by questionable baserunning. pic.twitter.com/N5ub2sf3CY

— Michael McDermott (@MichaelMcD8393) August 16, 2023

"You can't forget about that, that was the momentum of the game right there" said Walker. "You can track it back to that inning, that was the most we scored in one quick moment. For him to be there, the role he's had this year, his ability to stay prepared and locked in and help the team in any way, I'm proud of him."

Despite  Ahmed getting thrown out at home  the D-backs still held a 6-3 lead, making it the first time they scored more than four runs against Gomber in six career starts. The lead would not last, as Miguel Castro coughed up four runs in the bottom half of the inning on four hits. Nolan Jones golfed out a two-run homer that put the Rockies ahead 7-6 at the time.

Tommy Pham led off the eighth with a single against Tyler Kinley that set up Walker for his signature moment of the series. The D-backs first baseman deposited the next pitch into the D-backs bullpen. Pham added a tack on run in the ninth with a sacrifice fly. Those runs proved to be enough, as Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald retired six of the final seven hitters, four on strikes, to close the series out.

Things don't get easier for the D-backs, who are now just two games back of the final Wild Card. They travel to San Diego for a pivotal four-game series, needing to grab a series win against a reeling Padres team to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. With an exhausted bullpen, Zac Gallen will have to rise to the occasion once again and pitch very deep in tomorrow's game. First pitch at Petco Park will be 6:40pm MST.