Paul Goldschmidt
CarGo homers twice late to beat D-backs
Paul Goldschmidt

CarGo homers twice late to beat D-backs

Published Sep. 3, 2015 12:44 a.m. ET

DENVER -- Chip Hale's high-percentage move was spoiled by Carlos Gonzalez.

Gonzalez homered twice, including a grand slam, and had a career-high seven RBIs to give the Colorado Rockies a 9-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night.

Gonzalez's big night prevented the Diamondbacks from winning the four-game series.

"So we came out of it with two wins," Hale said. "A split on the road is not bad."

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The Arizona manager was hoping for a third win Wednesday when his bullpen ran into trouble in the seventh inning. The Rockies trailed 4-3 before they loaded the bases with two hits and a walk against Randall Delgado (5-4).

Hale played the percentages by bringing in left-hander Keith Hessler, recalled before the game, to face the left-handed hitting Gonzalez. He worked the count to 1-1 and then Gonzalez hit a slider off the facing of the second deck to put Colorado ahead 7-4. It was his fourth career grand slam, second this season.

"He's just going to have to get the ball down and hit his spots better," Hale said of Hessler. "He got the swing and miss on the first breaking ball down and away and then he just hung it. It's inexperience."

Gonzalez was the only batter Hessler faced.

"It's hard to put him in that situation but Matt Reynolds was not available today and he's our only lefty," Hale said. "So we wanted to matchup. It just didn't go well."

Gonzalez added a two-run homer off Matt Stites in the ninth.

"We still had a shot and I wanted to get a look at Stites," Hale said. "He threw the ball (well) until two outs and then CarGo got him again."

Gonzalez, who had his 15th career multi-homer game, is tied with Nolan Arenado for the team lead with 33 home runs. Arenado also homered.

Brooks Brown (1-2) pitched 1 1/3 innings and Justin Miller got the final five outs for his first career save.

Arizona took a 1-0 lead in the first on A.J. Pollock's sacrifice fly, but the Rockies rallied for three in the bottom of the inning. Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly and Arenado followed with a two-run homer to center, giving him 100 RBIs.

Arenado became the first Colorado player to reach that mark since Troy Tulowitzki had 105 in 2011.

Chris Owings had three hits and drove in two runs for the Diamondbacks. He had an RBI single in the second and a run-scoring double in the sixth that tied the score at 3-all. He scored on a force out later in the inning to give Arizona the lead, but the bullpen couldn't hold it.

Diamondbacks: 1B Paul Goldschmidt is away from the team to be with his wife, Amy, for the birth of their first child. Goldschmidt left late Tuesday and is expected to rejoin the team in Chicago when they take on the Cubs this weekend.

Rockies: 1B Justin Morneau (concussion symptoms) has rejoined the team but has not been activated. Manager Walt Weiss said Morneau has not been cleared yet despite having played in a rehab assignment with Double-A New Britain. ... RHP Tyler Chatwood pitched two innings in a rehab assignment for Single-A Modesto. Chatwood (Tommy John surgery) hasn't pitched since April 29, 2014.

Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Godley (4-0, 1.90 ERA) will be recalled to start Friday's series opener against the Cubs in Chicago.

Rockies: RHP Kyle Kendrick (4-7, 4.94 ERA) opens Colorado's four-game series against San Francisco on Thursday.

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