Jake Cave has been a sparkplug for the Rockies this season, running down flyballs in the outfield, taking extra bases and pumping up his teammates.
Thursday night, Cave provided the fireworks.
His solo homer to dead center in the sixth inning lifted Colorado to a 4-3 win over Milwaukee in front of an Independence Day crowd of 48,705 at Coors Field.
Cave’s first homer of the season came on a 1-0 fastball by Brewers starter Tobias Myers. The dinger, which traveled 430 feet, was Cave’s first since Aug. 20 of last season when he played for the Phillies. It snapped a streak of 208 at-bats without a homer.
Colorado right-hander Cal Quantrill battled, as he always does.
He departed after five innings with Colorado holding a 3-2 lead. He gave up five hits, struck out two and walked four. The four free passes stung him, and he failed to get a quality start for just the third time in his last 12 starts.
Still, the right-hander set the Rockies up for victory, and he has a 3.03 ERA in those 12 starts, dating back to May 3.
The Rockies held their breath in the third inning when Quantrill walked gingerly off the field. He fielded William Contreras’ swinging bunt in front of the mound and fired a strike to first to nip Contreras for the inning’s final out. But Quantrill fell during his throw and came up limping slightly.
Quantrill was not sharp in the fourth when he walked three batters to load the bases and paid the price when Andruw Monasterio blooped a two-run single to right, cutting Colorado’s lead to 3-2.
The Brewers tied the game in the sixth off reliever Anthony Molina. Jackson Chourio scorched an RBI double to center, scoring Rhys Hoskins, who drew a one-out walk.
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Timely hits gave the Rockies an early 3-0 lead. Charlie Blackmon led off the first with a single, advanced to second on Ezequiel Tovar’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Ryan McMahon’s opposite-field double to left.
In the second, Blackmon’s two-run, pop-up, hustle double to shallow right scored Michael Toglia and Sam Hilliard.
Colorado’s much-maligned, rickety bullpen finally delivered in the clutch. Right-hander Tyler Kinley pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and lefty Jalen Beeks pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his seventh save.
Beek’s biggest out was striking out pinch-hitter Garrett Mitchell looking at a 96 mph fastball for the final out of the eighth inning with two men on base. Beeks set the Brewers down in order in the ninth, getting All-Star Christian Yelich to chop out to first for the final out.
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