Jurickson Profar has a megawatt smile that could light up Broadway. That smile was beaming Monday night at Coors Field.
The left fielder put on a boffo performance, ripping two doubles to right field, including a two-run liner off the wall in the seventh inning in the Rockies’ 5-3 victory over Miami. The victory, in front of an announced crowd of 20,331, snapped Colorado’s three-game losing streak.
“Jurickson is playing as he expects to play and what we envisioned when we signed him in March,” manager Bud Black said. “We thought there was a hitter in there and it’s showing up.”
Profar extended his on-base streak to 30 games, the longest active streak in the majors. Since May 7, Profar is hitting .360, with two home runs, seven doubles and nine RBIs. He’s recorded multiple hits in each of his past four games.
Catcher Elias Diaz, by far the Rockies’Â most consistent performer this season, provided them with the go-ahead run with a one-out solo homer in the sixth off Miami starter Edward Cabrera. It was Diaz’s fourth homer of the season, but his first in 47 at-bats. He’s hitting .333, the third-highest average in the majors and he’s sizzled at Coors Field, where he’s hitting .386.
The Rockies, their rotation decimated by injuries, were in desperate need of a strong starting pitching performance. Veteran Chase Anderson delivered.
The right-hander gave the Rockies everything they could have hoped for, especially after their starters were blown out in all three games of a three-game sweep at Texas over the weekend.
“We didn’t play good baseball in Texas,” Profar said. “This team, we battle and we can turn it up. It started with Anderson pitching really good. … We have a pretty good hitting ball club, even though we didn’t get the (wins) in Texas.”
Anderson, making his second start since hooking up with the Rockies on May 12, pitched 5 2/3 innings.
“I have faced a bunch of those guys in the past,” said Anderson, who owns a 1.69 ERA in his two starts with Colorado. “Just knowing them from (studying) the scouting report the night before, and just knowing what you can go to, that helps. The goal was getting weak contact. So it’s about knowing the hitters and doing your homework.”
The Marlins got eight hits off Anderson but scored only two runs. Groundball double plays in the first and second innings rescued him.
“He managed the innings,” Black said. “The game management was solid. Under control and solid. He’s a 35-year-old, veteran starting pitcher. It shows.”
The Marlins cut Colorado’s lead to 2-1 in the third with a one-out walk by Jacob Stallings, a bloop single to right by former Rockies utility player Garrett Hampson and an RBI single to left by Luis Arraez to score Stallings.
Miami scored another run in the fourth after loading the bases when Bryan De La Cruz singled, Jean Segura was plunked by a pitch and Joey Wendle walked. Jacob Stallings’ groundout to third scored De La Cruz, but that was the extent of the rally.
Colorado took a 2-0 lead in the first on back-to-back-to-back doubles by Profar, Kris Bryant and Diaz.
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