Rockies' Austin Gomber dominates Braves in 3-1 victory

Austin Gomber aced the Braves 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.

Closer Tyler Kinley pitched a perfect ninth, striking out dangerous hitters Jorge Soler and Marcell Ozuna, 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 drive to left in the sixth. Toglia and Tovar have 22 homers, tied with center fielder Brenton Doyle for the most homers on the team.

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

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.

The black mark on one of the Rockies’ best 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.

To make room on the major league roster, lefty reliever Evan Justice was optioned to Triple-A. To make room on the 40-man roster, right-handed starter Dakota Hudson was transferred to 60-day injured list.

Hill was a second-round draft pick out of LSU in 2021 despite missing the bulk of his final college season because of an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery.

Hill has made 41 relief appearances between Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Albuquerque this season, his first as a reliever. He was 6-2 with seven saves, a 4.57 ERA, 69 strikeouts and 17 walks.