 moved a half-game ahead of the Diamondbacks (15-10) atop the division in the opener of the three-game series. Colorado also ended a three-game losing streak. Freeland (3-1) gave up a run and six hits with two walks. He struck out two and lowered his earned run average to 2.93. Chris Rusin, Adam Ottavino and Greg Holland combined for three scoreless innings, with Holland earning his 10th save. Arizona left-hander Robbie Ray (2-1) struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings, but allowed three runs and five hits with three walks. Nolan Arenado hit a ground-rule double to left field with two out in the first inning and scored on Carlos Gonzalez's single. Story, who hit six of his 27 homers last season against Arizona, made it 2-0 in the second with his fifth of the season. The Diamondbacks answered with a run in the bottom of the third. Freeland got two outs before A. J. Pollock singled, Chris Owings walked and Paul Goldschmidt lined a 3-2 pitch to center field to drive in Pollock. Goldschmidt has a 31-game on-base streak at home against the Rockies. The Diamondbacks had runners on second and third against with one out for Goldschmidt in the fifth, even after Story dived behind second base to rob Pollock of a hit and force a fielder's choice. But Freeland worked out of the jam, as Goldschmidt was retired on a broken bat pop out and Yasmany Tomas bounced out. Charlie Blackmon's two-out single in the seventh drove in Pat Valaika and chased Ray. GOOD GRABSBoth teams had outfielders turn in big defensive plays on Friday. Tomas, not typically known for his glove work, ran down a Dustin Garneau fly ball for a backhand catch in the second inning before hitting the left-field wall. Blackmon took a hit away from Arizona's David Peralta when the Rockies center fielder slid to catch a sinking fly ball. TRAINER'S ROOMRockies: RHP Chad Bettis, on the 60-day disabled list as he battles testicular cancer, is with the team this weekend and played catch in the outfield before Friday's game. ''This is what I needed,'' Bettis said. ''It's been great to walk through those doors and the first question is `How are you doing and how's the baby?''' Bettis has seven days of treatments remaining, over three weeks. ... INF Ian Desmond played an extended spring training game on Friday as he works his way back from a broken left hand suffered in March. Desmond could return to the Rockies in the next few days. ... OF David Dahl (rib) is also at extended spring training doing rehab work. Diamondbacks: 2B Brandon Drury returned to the lineup after missing Thursday to rest a jammed right knee suffered in Wednesday's game against San Diego. UP NEXTRockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (1-3) brings a 7.11 ERA into his scheduled start against Arizona. It will be his fourth road start in six this season. Diamondbacks: RHP Zack Greinke (2-2) faces the Rockies. He is 7-4 with a 4.09 ERA in 19 career starts against Colorado.)
Time: 9:40 PM EDT Venue: Chase Field, Phoenix, Ariz., 85004 PHOENIX -- The Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies meet in a three-game series starting Friday in a matchup of National League West heavyweights. Just as everyone expected. Well, maybe some of the two teams' players and their immediate families. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants were universal picks to top the division before the season. Instead, Arizona (15-9) took over the division lead by a half-game by beating the San Diego Padres 6-2 on Thursday. Colorado (14-9) slipped to second in the extremely early-season standings after losing its third straight to the Washington Nationals, 16-5. Among the challenges for the Rockies will be containing the D-backs' running game. After watching Arizona run nearly at will this week, San Diego manager Andy Green called the Diamondbacks "the best running team in baseball. Milwaukee is probably right behind them." Milwaukee might end up with more (stolen) bags. Arizona's success rate is going to be higher." The D-backs stole two more bases Thursday to raise their major-league-leading total to 27 this season." It's a challenge for us," Green said. "It's good for us to go through it early in the season because it's an eye-opener to see how easy it is for them to take bags on some of our guys." The Friday game will match Diamondbacks strikeout artist Robbie Ray (2-0, 3.42 ERA) against Rockies rookie Kyle Freeland (2-1, 3.32 ERA). Ray went 8-15 with a 4.90 ERA last year but set career highs in starts (32), innings (174 1/3) and strikeouts (218). The strikeout total ranked tied for No. 9 in the majors, and his 11.25 strikeouts per nine innings trailed only Jose Fernandez (12.49) in the National League. The key for Ray is to be efficient enough to last deep into games. He has been helped by early-count outs in recent starts, though he also seems to be winning recent battles on 3-2 counts." (That) has allowed him to work deeper into games," manager Torey Lovullo said. "The stuff is still electric. The fastball, the breaking ball, the combination of those two pitches has been tremendous, and at times he's overmatched some really good offensive teams." In his most recent start, Ray gave up five runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings in an 11-5 win over the Dodgers. Freeland heads into his fifth major league start coming off a big outing. He threw seven scoreless innings in an 8-0 shutout of San Francisco on Sunday, allowing six hits while walking one and striking out three. Freeland recorded 12 outs on ground balls." His best stuff is down in the strike zone with movement down," Rockies manager Bud Black said after the game. "When you're throwing the ball in the low 90s with action down, you're going to get grounders." Freeland, 23, has pitched in four big-league games, all starts." You learn at home and you learn on the road," Freeland told the Denver Post. "It's about being comfortable in all situations." The Rockies hope Freeland can stop a stretch of subpar pitching that saw the Nationals put up 42 runs en route to winning the last three games of the midweek series at Coors Field. While Freeland will be facing the Diamondbacks for the first time, Ray is 2-1 with a 5.30 ERA in seven career starts against the Rockies. Both teams will feel confident if the game is tight. The Rockies have been great in one-run games, producing a big-league-best 7-0 record. The last team in the majors to start 7-0 in such games was the 2006 Houston Astros. Last year, Colorado was 12-20 in one-run games. Arizona is 4-1 in one-run contests.
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