The Colorado Rockies defeated the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Saturday afternoon with a walk-off single by Carlos Gonzalez, pushing their winning streak to three games. Colorado, who could not buy a win all over the last week and a half, have suddenly caught fire heading into the All-Star break.

Colorado sent ace left-hander Jorge De La Rosa to the hill for the Saturday matinee against the Braves. De La Rosa, who is 5-1 since the beginning of June, did his job perfectly on Saturday. Giving his team a chance to win late, De La Rosa tossed six innings surrendering two runs on four hits while recording seven strikeouts. Two of the four hits De La Rosa surrendered left the yard. He exited with the score tied at two and received the no decision.

The Atlanta Braves sent Matt Wisler to the hill to counter De La Rosa and he did just that. Matching De La Rosa pitch-for-pitch, Wisler completed six innings surrendering two runs on six hits and recording seven strikeouts. Wisler’s made only one mistake and that was to Carlos Gonzalez in the first inning.

Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez started the party in the bottom of the first inning for the men in purple. Gonzalez deposited a ball over the center field fence that scored lead-off man Charlie Blackmon to give the Rockies a 2-0 lead. Both Blackmon and Gonzalez finished the afternoon 3-for-4 with Gonzalez driving in all of the Colorado runs, and hitting the walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki finished 0-for-4 and registered a hat-trick, three strikeouts, in the walk-off win. Tulowtizki’s Major League leading 21-game hitting streak was snapped Saturday with the goose egg at the plate. The 21-game mark is the highest mark in the Majors all year.

Braves third baseman Juan Uribe shined offensively Saturday afternoon. Uribe went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk out of the five hole. Uribe hit his eighth home run of the year in the top of the second off of De La Rosa to put the Braves back within one. Braves catcher Ryan Lavarnway drove in the other run with a solo home run of his own in the top of the third and finished the game 1-for-3.

A very scary moment for the Braves came in the top of the ninth inning when closer Jason Grilli injured himself while attempting to cover first base on a ground ball to first base. Grilli suffered a ruptured left Achilles and has been announced that he will miss the remainder of the season. He has been a work horse in the back of the Braves bullpen converting 24 of 26 save oppurtunites after assuming the role after Craig Kimbrel was dealt out of Atlanta.

The Rockies will look to complete the four-game sweep of the Braves on Sunday afternoon. Colorado will send Chad Bettis (4-4) to the hill to counter the Braves starter from Thursday’s rain-lengthened game in Alex Wood (6-5). First pitch is slated for Sunday, July 12th at 4:10 P.M. EST. The game can be seen on ROOT Sports and Fox Sports Southwest.

All-Star Update:

The Colorado Rockies now have three members of their infield playing in the Mid-Summer Classic in Cincinnati starting next week. Troy Tulowitzki was added to the N.L. All-Star roster after the injury to Miami Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon. Tulowitzki, who finished fourth in the Final Vote, will be making his fifth All-Star game appearance. Rockies second baseman D.J. LeMahieu will now start in place of the injured Gordon. This now means that Nolan Arenando, LeMahieu, and Tulowitzki will partake in the All-Star game.

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About the author
Casey Splane
My name is Casey Splane and I am a college baseball player at Benedictine College studying journalism and sports broadcasting.