Rockies’ Austin Gomber dominates Braves in Colorado’s 3-1 victory

Austin Gomber aced the Braves on Thursday night at Truist Park.

The left-hander pitched one of the best games of his career, dominating the Braves for eight innings in the Rockies’ 3-1 victory.

Gomber allowed a single run on five hits — just one hit after the second inning — struck out five and didn’t walk any. He threw 92 pitches, 67 for strikes.

Manager Bud Black tipped his cap to Gomber by comparing him to some great Braves southpaws.

“It reminded me, here in Atlanta, of a combination of (Tom) Glavin, Charlie Leibrandt and Steve Avery,” Black told reporters. “‘Gomby threw well. He had a great fastball — up and down, in and out. He had a good hook, good change, good slider.

“He pitched really well. Whether it’s the best he’s pitched all year, I don’t know, but it’s right up there.”

The lefty threw 40% fastballs, 20% curveballs, 20% sliders and 20% changeups.

Thursday marked the fourth time in his career that Gomber pitched eight innings, including on May 22 at Oakland. But he’s never pitched a complete game and never thrown in the ninth inning. Black said eight was enough for Gomber.

“He emptied the tank, he said, in the eighth,” Black told reporters in Atlanta. “Where they were in the order, with (Jorge) Soler and (Marcell) Ozuna and (Matt Olsen) coming up — three really good (hitters) — I thought it was best that we put (closer Tyler) Kinley on those guys.”

Kinley pitched a perfect ninth, striking out Jorge Soler and Marcell Ozuna with nasty sliders, to record his ninth save.

Gomber’s night began with a shaky first inning. The Braves ripped three singles, including Ramon Laureano’s two-out RBI single. Orlando Arcia led off the second with a double but after that, Gomber dominated Atlanta.

Colorado didn’t land many jabs against Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez, who struck out a season-high 11 batters. But the Rockies did land two haymakers. First baseman Michael Toglia blasted a one-out, 451-foot solo homer in the second and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar hit a 387-foot, one-out homer to left in the sixth. Toglia and Tovar have 22 homers apiece, tied with center fielder Brenton Doyle for the most on the team.

“It’s competitive,” Toglia told Rockies.TV. “Me, Tovar and Doyle have this footrace going in the home run department. It’s great when someone pushes the bar higher.”

Lopez gave up just five hits and didn’t walk any, his minuscule ERA rising from 2.00 to 2.04.

But Gomber outpitched Lopez as the Rockies snapped an eight-game losing streak at Truist Park.

“Gomber was fantastic tonight,” Toglia said. “It was one of the best outings I’ve seen from him since I’ve been around. His curveball was really on tonight, with a lot of swing and miss on that.

“I felt like I was falling asleep at first (base) because there were so many easy outs. Lazy flyballs and strikeouts. I had to make sure I stayed locked in.”

Colorado manufactured a run in the seventh off Luke Jackson. Toglia walked, stole second, and raced to third on catcher Sean Murphy’s throwing error. Toglia scored on Nolan Jones’ sacrifice fly to center.

Colorado stole four bases, tying a season-high.

The big blemish on one of the Rockies’ prettiest wins of the season was their 16 strikeouts, including four by Brendan Rodgers. They entered the game with 1,377, the most in the National League.

Jaden Hill promoted: The Rockies have been waiting for weeks to call up hard-throwing right-hander reliever Jaden Hill, but a right hamstring strain delayed his promotion. But Hill, Colorado’s No. 20 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, got the call on Thursday when his contract was selected from Triple-A Albuquerque.