Rockies drop D-backs into tie for second NL wild card

Ezequiel Tovar homered among his three hits, Hunter Goodman also went deep and the Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-2 on Tuesday in Denver.The victory was Buddy Black's 535th with C

Rockies drop D-backs into tie for second NL wild card

Ezequiel Tovar homered among his three hits, Hunter Goodman also went deep and the Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-2 on Tuesday in Denver.

The victory was Buddy Black’s 535th with Colorado (59-93), moving him past Clint Hurdle as the winningest manager in franchise history.

Brendan Rodgers, Ryan McMahon and Jordan Beck had two hits each to back a strong outing from Ryan Feltner (3-10). The right-hander struck out only two in 6 2/3 innings but held Arizona to one run on five hits and two walks.

Christian Walker homered and Pavin Smith doubled twice for the Diamondbacks (83-68). Arizona has dropped seven of 11 to drop into a tie with the New York Mets for the last two NL wild cards. Both teams have a two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves.

The Rockies took the lead in the second inning against Diamondbacks starter Jordan Montgomery (8-7). Michael Toglia hit a popup to short right field that fell for a double, and he scored when Jacob Stallings lined a double to left. Beck drove in Stallings to with a two-out double to put Colorado ahead 2-0.

Tovar extended the lead to 3-0 in the third with his team-leading 25th homer and second in as many nights. That was the last run Montgomery surrendered in his 4 2/3-inning performance. He gave up six hits, walked two and struck out four.

The Diamondbacks got that run back in the fourth. Smith led off with his second double of the night, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Eugenio Suarez’s groundout to first.

The Rockies added to their advantage in the sixth inning against reliever Scott McGough. With one out, Nolan Jones walked, Beck singled and both moved up on a double steal. Brenton Doyle drove in Jones with a sacrifice fly, and Tovar’s single to center brought home Beck.

Goodman’s solo shot in the seventh, his 13th of the season, made it 6-1 but Walker answered with his 26th of the year with one out in the eighth.

Colorado put it away in the bottom of the eighth on RBI singles by McMahon and Rodgers.