Atlanta’s offense came alive late in Friday’s game, erasing Colorado’s early lead in a 12-4 victory over the Rockies. Colorado struck first when third baseman Ryan McMahon launched a two-run homer off Braves starter Bryce Elder in the top of the 1st inning, putting the visitors up 2-0. Atlanta immediately responded in the bottom of the 1st: Ronald Acuña Jr. doubled and later scored on a Matt Olson sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. The Rockies pushed their lead to 4-1 by the fourth inning (including an RBI single by McMahon), but those would be the final runs Colorado scored.

In the 6th inning, Atlanta evened the game. Michael Harris II crushed a three-run homer off the typically stingy reliever Jake Bird to tie it 4-4. The big blow came the following inning when Marcel Ozuna hit a go-ahead three-run homer to left, giving Atlanta a 7-4 lead off of reliever Victor Vodnik. The Braves tacked on additional insurance in the 8th, scoring five times (capped by a three-run single by Matt Olson) against Ryan Rolison to extend the margin to 12-4. Atlanta’s bullpen allowed no runs over the last four innings, sealing the victory. It’s been a rough few games for the Rockies as the bullpen has faltered in the late innings despite decent starting pitching and hitting.

The Rockies offense managed 14 hits in the game, the second most in a road game this season. McMahon led the way with three hits while Thairo Estrada, Hunter Goodman, and Mickey Moniak each had two hits. However, despite getting plenty of players on base, they went just 4-for-14 with RISP and left 12 men on base. A key part of that was that the Rockies hit into four double plays that killed any momentum they may have built with scoring opportunities.

The late results also overshadowed a strong outing from Rockies starter German Marquez. The veteran allowed one run on six hits over five innings of work as he struck out seven and issued just one walk. It was a gutsy outing from Marquez and put the Rockies in a position to win, something the rotation has been doing as of late. Finding balance has been an issue for the Rockies in all aspects of a game.

Errors played a major role on defense as the team committed four errors. There was only one unearned run, but Keston Hiura had two errors at first while both Thairo Estrada and Orlando Arcia had errors up the middle in the infield. Jordan Beck did have a standout catch in left field in the seventh that helped keep the game close before Ozuna’s home run.

The loss dropped Colorado to 13-56. They will look to rebound behind Chase Dollander as he faces off against Spencer Strider for Atlanta.