DENVER (AP) – Nolan Arenado hit a 482-foot two-homer that bounced out of Coors Field in the first inning, Chi Chi Gonzalez got his first big league win in four years and the Colorado Rockies slowed the St. Louis Cardinals’ playoff push with a 2-1 victory on Tuesday night.
St. Louis had won 23 of 30 coming in to open a four-game lead in the NL Central over the second-place Chicago Cubs.
Given the early advantage, Gonzalez (1-6) allowed one run and four hits in six innings. The 27-year-old right-hander had been 0-6 with a 7.29 in nine starts and one relief appearance this year, and he had not won in the big leagues since Sept. 22, 2015, for Texas at Oakland.
Jairo Diaz got six outs and finished a six-hitter for second save.
Michael Wacha (6-7) allowed five hits in four innings and is winless in seven starts and two relief appearances since July 19.
Charlie Blackmon singled with one out in the first, and Arenado drove a changeup to left. The ball bounced off the concourse and out of the ballpark. Arenado’s 38th home run this season gave him 110 RBIs this year and 500 extra-base hits in his career.
Dexter Fowler doubled leading off the fourth and scored on Paul Goldschmidt’s groundout. Gonzalez pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out ham in the fifth when pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter hit a soft liner to shortstop Trevor Story and Fowler grounded out.
St. Louis had runners on the corners in the seventh before Carlos Estevez relieved Bryan Shaw and struck out Harrison Bader and Jose Martinez.
