SEATTLE – Brandon Barnes knew he’d made a pretty special catch that likely saved a run and kept Colorado in the lead.
Just to be sure, Barnes sat in front of his locker after the Rockies’ 3-2 win on Sunday, his ribs wrapped with an ice pack, and watched the replay a couple of times.
“I wanted to give everything I had because I knew it was borderline fair or foul,” Barnes said. “I stayed with it and you get close to diving head first at the wall it’s never safe, but I knew I had a couple of more steps so I went for it.”
Colorado took two of three during the interleague series with the Mariners, scoring twice in the fourth inning on Kyle Seager’s throwing error and preserving the lead in the eighth inning thanks to Barnes’ catch in the left-field corner.
Ketel Marte walked with one out in the eighth inning and Seager’s drive sliced off the bat, away from Barnes. It would have been a fair ball had it landed and with Marte’s speed, he likely would have scored to tie the game.
Instead, Barnes made a catch that Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon called one of the top plays in baseball this year. Barnes quickly got the ball back into the infield where Cristhian Adames relay throw to first base was in time to double up Marte and end the inning.
“Off the bat I didn’t think there was any chance he got to it. I thought it was going to be a double for sure,” Seager said.
Nolan Arenado capped third inning when the Rockies scored without a base hit with a sacrifice fly for his 110th run batted in of the season. Charlie Blackmon walked, advanced to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on Arenado’s fly ball to deep right field.
The Rockies added two more an inning later when Willin Rosario doubled leading off, Justin Morneau walked. Both scored when Seager overthrew catcher Steven Baron trying to cut down Rosario at the plate after Dustin Garneau hit a weak groundball to third. It was the 16th error of the season for Seager.
Kyle Kendrick (6-12) allowed two runs over five innings to pick up his second consecutive victory. Kendrick grew up about 90 minutes north of Seattle but had never pitched against the Mariners in his career. With a small cheering section behind home plate, Kendrick won consecutive games for the first time this season.
John Axford pitched the ninth for his 23rd save in 28 opportunities.
“I came to games here as a kid, my dad use to take me to games here, so just coming here brought back those memories and pitching against a team I grew up rooting for was pretty cool,” Kendrick said.
Rockies rumpus
Colorado manager Walt Weiss said catchers Dustin Garneau and Tom Murphy will split time behind the plate over the final few weeks of the season. Murphy was set for instructional league in Arizona before Nick Hundley landed on the disabled list on Friday. ... Colorado will open a series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers with Jon Gray (0-0) still seeking his first major league victory. The Rockies are 1-6 in his previous starts.
The Associated Press
