Oakland—The Oakland Athletics powered their way to a 7-1 victory Monday night against the Colorado Rockies. Behind two first-inning home runs that produced four runs, the Athletics never looked back. Josh Reddick and Ike Davis provided the power surge early for the A’s, and that proved to be enough to support starting pitcher Kendall Graveman.
Graveman (5-4) cruised through seven innings against the struggling Rockies. He surrendered five hits, issued three walks, and recorded three strikeouts. Graveman, who finished with 111 pitches, made quick work of the Rockies' lineup the entire night and held the men in purple scoreless.
Rockies starting pitcher David Hale was on a completely different end of the spectrum Monday night. Hale (2-3) threw seven innings, giving up five runs on nine hits and striking out two. Hale gave up the two first-inning home runs to Reddick and Davis, which put the Rockies in a hole 4-0. Athletics DH Billy Butler added a solo home run of his own in the sixth inning to extend the Oakland lead to 5-0.
Troy Tulowitzki extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the first inning. Tulowitzki finished the night 3-3 with a walk. Nolan Arenado, recently named N.L. player of the week, extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the sixth inning. Arenado, whose torrid pace has rocketed him into the All-Star conversation, finished the night 1-4. Charlie Blackmon would provide the only run for the Rockies with a solo home run to right field in the eighth inning.
Oakland added two runs late off of Rockies reliever Christian Friedrich. Butler drove in Reddick with an RBI double and proceeded to score on a Brett Lawrie triple.
Game 2 of the three-game interleague series continues Tuesday. Rockies ace Jorge De La Rosa (4-3) will face Athletics ace Sonny Gray (9-3). The first pitch is scheduled for 10:05 p.m. EST. The game can be seen on ROOT Sports and CSNCA.