Merrill Kelly must love pitching in the Mile High City and it showed once again as the Arizona Diamondbacks put together 13 hits and rolled over the Colorado Rockies 9-1 on Friday night at Coors Field in Denver, Colo.

Kelly threw a complete-game four-hitter, allowing just one earned run to the Rockies. While Kelly was dominating on the mound, the Diamondbacks' bats were alive and well.

Going to 3-3 on the season, Kelly didn't walk a batter and struck out three. He now has a 5.91 ERA, but he didn't pitch like a guy with an ERA north of five at all. The lone run Kelly allowed was a first-inning solo home run by Colorado's Hunter Goodman, his 11th homer this season.

Arizona started the scoring early and often off Rockies starter Kyle Freeland, who absorbed the loss. What made the Diamondbacks' six-run first inning more frustrating for the Rockies had to have been that the runs were all scored after two outs.

Ildemargo Vargas (who else?) went 4-for-5 on Friday night. He started the scoring with an RBI single with runners at first and third base. Corbin Carroll scored and Nolan Arenado moved to second base, putting the Diamondbacks up 1-0. 

Now, with the bases loaded, Gabriel Moreno hit a ground single to center field. Arenado and Vargas scored to put Arizona up 3-0 at that point. Jose Fernandez doubled to bring home Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and the D-backs went up 4-0. Then, Ryan Waldschmidt got in on the fun with a two-run single, putting Arizona in front 6-0.

With Goodman's homer, the Rockies pulled within 6-1. 

Vargas came through again in the top of the fourth inning with a single that scored Carroll and Arizona went up 7-1. Gurriel's sacrifice fly in the seventh inning added another run and the Diamondbacks led 8-1. Moreno followed with a double to center and Vargas scored, giving Arizona their 9-1 advantage.

Freeland took the loss for the Rockies, falling to 1-5 this season. In 3 2/3 innings, Freeland gave up eight hits, seven runs (all earned), walked four, and struck out three. 

The final score could have been much larger for the Diamondbacks, but they produced with runners in scoring position. They went 7-for-13 with runners in scoring position against Colorado and left eight runners on base.

With the victory, the Diamondbacks are one game below .500 at 21-22 and sit in third place in the National League West Division. The Rockies, who have been working hard to improve this season, are now 17-28 and in last place in the National League West.

The three-game weekend series continues with an afternoon game on Saturday, and it will wrap up with another afternoon matchup on Sunday. Both games have 12:10 p.m. MT start times, too.

After the Sunday afternoon contest, the Diamondbacks return to Chase Field in Downtown Phoenix for a series against the San Francisco Giants.

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