Rock Solid Recrap: Guthrie Stinks, Kennedy Dominates

Diamondbacks 10, Rockies 0 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: As the score may indicate, several things were off tonight. I'll get into the Jeremy Guthrie fiasco two segments down. Right here I'll mention the lousy night for the offense against Arizona's ace Ian Kennedy, who shut them out over his six innings and tied a career high with 12 strikeouts.

Five of those strikeouts came with RISP, so just the general inability to get the ball in play tonight was a major problem.

Turning Point: Two of those strikeouts came with the bases loaded in the 2nd. The first was Jeremy Guthrie. The second was Dexter Fowler. A hit there could have easily changed the game's outlook. Carlos Gonzalez and Todd Helton then struck out looking in the 3rd after Marco Scutaro had led off with a double. That was right after Arizona took a 2-0 lead, and was their last real chance to get in the game.

Jeremy Guthrie's Line: 3 1/3 IP, 7 ER, 11 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 HR, 90 pitches (51 strikes)

The hits allowed were a career high, edging out the 10 he allowed in his last road start at Cincinnati. The two home runs were absolute no doubters, and give him 12 allowed on the season. That's tied for second worst in the National League behind only Mike Minor of Atlanta. It's safe to say he'd be far ahead of Minor's pace already had he not missed roughly four starts from late April to early May.

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Lineup Card: Rockies @ D-Backs 6-5-12

Links

• May Review and Player Rankings
• Weekend Recap
• Monday's Recap: Rockies Hurl First Shutout Behind Christian Friedrich

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (24-30)

1. Dexter Fowler (CF)
2. Marco Scutaro (SS)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
5. Todd Helton (1B)
6. Jordan Pacheco (3B)
7. Wilin Rosario (C)
8. D.J. LeMahieu (2B)
9. Jeremy Guthrie (P)

I'm a little rusty with the Lineup Card because my brain automatically told me to write Troy Tulowitzki in the cleanup spot. At least this time I caught my error before hitting publish. I also continue to struggle with D.J. LeMahieu's name. Too damn many consecutive vowels for my liking.

Arizona Diamondbacks (25-30)

1. Gerardo Parra (RF)
2. Willie Bloomquist (SS)
3. Jason Kubel (LF)
4. Miguel Montero (C)
5. Chris Young (CF)
6. Lyle Overbay (1B)
7. Josh Bell (3B)
8. Aaron Hill (2B)
9. Ian Kennedy (P)

No Justin Upton or Paul Goldschmidt makes life a little easier for Jeremy Guthrie, but he still needs to focus on throwing strikes and keeping the ball down if he wants to give the Rockies a good outing against someone other than Houston. 

More Rockies thoughts await you if you follow me on Twitter: @Townie813 & @HeavenHelton

Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Hurl First Shutout Behind Christian Friedrich

Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 0 (boxscore)

Winning Player: Christian Friedrich

What little stability the Rockies rotation has enjoyed over the past month has been mostly provided by Friedrich. The young lefty was beyond solid again here, despite not exactly possessing what you'd call good command early on. That led to a challenging first two innings that saw Arizona leave the bases loaded in the 1st and a runner at second in the 2nd. Friedrich then settled down enough to retire eight of the next nine and ultimately worked deep into the game.

Christian Friedrich's Line: 7 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 113 pitches (69 strikes)

The pitch count is a new major league high for Friedrich. In fact, he only reached 100 (exactly) one time before (on May 19 vs Seattle), so it's by a pretty fair margin. I figure that's noteworthy on some level, but overall I'm just thrilled with Friedrich's performance to date and certainly looking forward to his next outing against the Angels.

Turning Point: I mentioned Arizona leaving the bases loaded in the 1st. A big reason for that was Dexter Fowler's outstanding diving catch (Watch) on Aaron Hill's line drive that happened at the beginning of the inning. If that ball gets down, the D-Backs have two on and no outs. If it gets past Fowler, the D-Backs have a run on the board and another 90 feet away. It was an early game changer, and another positive step in Fowler's development into a difference maker.

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Weekend Recap: They Beat LA!

Friday

Rockies 13, Dodgers 3 (boxscore) 

Winning Players: The offense... again

The offense continued sizzling on this night against the surprisingly effective 2012 version of Chris Capuano. The boxscore was pretty to look at with Dexter Fowler contributing three more hits (two runs, two RBI), Michael Cuddyer touching the plate four times (home run included) and Wilin Rosario delivering the knockout punch with a three-run 6th inning homer.

There wasn't a single hole in the lineup among position players, and that was ultra-important given the piggyback pitching plan going into this game.

Josh Outman's Line: 3 1/3, 0 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 55 pitches (37 strikes)

Couldn't ask for much more out of Outman under the circumstances. A very effective line.

The Bullpen's Line: 5 2/3, 3 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 4 K

The walks and two runs belonged to Carlos Torres (two innings). Adam Ottavino (1 2/3 - 0 R), Matt Belisle (1 IP - 1 ER) and Esmil Rogers (1 IP - 0 R) closed it down efficiently.

Highlight of the Game

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