Opening Day was a wild one for the Rockies, who hung on to beat Milwaukee, 7-5, and handed their new manager Bud Black his first official victory in the color purple. Now they hope to replicate the same result in tonight’s second game with a lefty on the mound—Tyler Anderson.
Anderson didn’t see the field in his rookie campaign last season until June, and eventually collected 19 starts. In that stretch, he went 5-6 with a 3.54 ERA, including an impressive lone start at Miller Park: 10 strikeouts in five innings of two-run ball.
If he shows up with that kind of display again, this second meeting against the Brewers should be a walk in the park for Colorado. If not, the team should still find success through Nolan Arenado or Mark Reynolds at the plate.
Both were solid in series opener, going 4-of-6 with three RBIs combined and one homer from the latter.
The Brewers lost their 2017 opener, along with key pitcher Junior Guerra who left the match after three innings due to a strained calf. That was definitely not the way they planned to kick off the season, but they can look forward to a strong response from starter Zach Davies who hopes to build on his performance last season.
The righty went 11-7 with a 3.98 ERA in 28 starts in 2016, which was his first full season in the majors. Davies also got the W in his lone start against Colorado in that same year, logging in six innings of one-run ball and had eight strikeouts.
Davies can expect some run support from Jonathan Villar, Eric Thames and Travis Shaw. Villar and Thames had two RBIs each, while Shaw went 2-of-4 along with one RBI.
