The stats were bonkers in this one.
The Rockies drew 10 walks and added two more free passes through hit by pitches, which should lead to numerous runs. On defense, the Rockies committed four fielding errors, which should result in a loss. When it comes to pitching, Kyle Freeland gave up a grand slam to Jose Siri.
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Through it all, the Rockies persisted, rallying for two comebacks — including a five-run eighth inning — to pull out a hard-to-believe win on Monday night.
With the game tied 8-8, the Rockies had to dial up another comeback in the ninth. It was small, but mighty enough to win as Kyle Karros singled, Jake McCarthy doubled and TJ Rumfield hit a sac fly to drive in the winning run.
“That was not a normal game. They gave 12 free passes. We kicked the ball a bunch tonight and threw it around sloppily, but somebody’s got to win that game,” said Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer. “I thought the boys showed incredible resilience, bouncing back multiple times, just sticking with it and throwing up really good at-bats all night long, despite the horrendous defense.”
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Big hits in the 8th
After the big hits had been elusive all game, they finally came in the eighth inning for the Rockies. Sterlin Thompson and Kyle Karros led off the frame with back-to-back doubles. When Thompson scored, it cut the Angels lead to 6-4. Jake McCarthy followed with a walk and Tyler Freeman singled to score Karros to cut L.A’s lead to 6-5. That’s when Hunter Goodman handled things, hitting his 14th homer of the year and putting the Rockies up 8-6.
The Rockies hit around in the inning, which marked the 10th time this season when the Rockies scored five or more runs.
“We’ve had some good innings this year, but that was a big one,” Schaeffer said.
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The Rockies seven, eight and nine hitters, Edouard Julien, Thompson and Karros, combined to draw three walks, produce four hits score three runs and drive in two. That helped McCarthy add more of a spark in the leadoff spot as the outfielder homered, doubled, scored two runs and walked twice.
“Jake was awesome,” Schaeffer said. “It makes such a difference when the bottom of the lineup gets on base like that.”
Nothing is easy
Unfortunately for the Rockies, Jaden Hill wasn’t at his best in the bottom of the eighth. The reliever gave up a leadoff walk and then a single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. With only recording one out, Hill was pulled for Antonio Senzatela. He gave up a triple to Jorge Soler, which tied the game, but then he got out of the inning.
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In the bottom of the ninth, Senzatela got one out on one pitch, but then gave up a single. Siri then hit a groundball to Ezequiel Tovar, who touched second and gunned the ball to first for a double play.
The Angels challenged the out on speedy Siri, but the ruling on the field was confirmed and Senzatela earned the win to improve to 5-0 (even though he also got the blown save).
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It ain’t grand
Despite giving up two singles and a long fly ball to the warning track, Kyle Freeland made it through the first two innings with a clean sheet. When he gave up back-to-back singles to Donovan Walton and Jorge Soler to lead off the third, it was a sign of a rough inning to come. Even though he retired the next two batters via two lineouts, including Mike Trout, Jo Adell put the Angels on the board with an RBI single to cut the Rockies lead to 2-1.
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Oswald Peraza kept the rally going with an infield hit to load the bases, which teed up a grand slam Jose Siri. In one frame, the Rockies went from up 2-0, to trailing 5-2.
Freeland bounced back in the fourth with a three-up, three-down inning that was capped off with a Trout strikeout. Outside of the satisfaction of striking out one of the best hitters in baseball, the K marked Freeland’s 986th career strikeout, which moved him into second place above Jorge De La Rosa on the all-time Colorado franchise list. He now trails only Germán Márquez’s 1,069.
Freeland finished the day with four strikeouts (987), but gave up six runs (five earned), on seven hits with one walk in 5.2 innings. As proof of the Freeland’s struggles this season, the outing dropped Freeland’s ERA from 8.08 to 8.06. However, Schaeffer was still impressed with Freeland’s outing.
“I thought Free threw the ball well. He maintained his velocity all day, put the ball where he wanted, and the changeup was really working,” said Schaeffer, who blamed the bad defense for too much of the scoring. “He competed against nine right-handers, which is hard to do. Kudos to him. He battled and got us through 5-plus with a bullpen that’s been taxed of late.”
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An early road advantage
The Rockies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Tyler Freeman drew a walk and advanced to second on a throwing error on a failed pick off at first. Troy Johnston took advantage with a slow single up the middle to plate Freeman and put Colorado up 1-0.
McCarthy doubled to lead with a walkoff homer. The 397-foot shot to center field was his fourth of the season.
In the fifth, Thompson hit an RBI single to cut L.A.‘s lead to 5-3. Through seven innings, the three runs on four hits were all the Rockies could muster. Going into the eighth, the Rockies were 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position and had left 10 runners on base. They also had drawn eight walks and were hit by two pitches.
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In other words, the Rockies had their chances, but couldn’t capitalize. It didn’t help that in the game the Rockies struck out 11 times — five recorded by Ezequiel Tovar. Schaeffer was still happy with his team’s offensive approach.
“The whole game, even though we did punch out 10 times, I thought the at-bats were excellent tonight,” Schaeffer said.
Freeman hit a foul ball off his foot late in the game and didn’t return to field in the bottom of the eighth. Schaeffer said the Rockies will know more on Tuesday about the severity of the injury.
Up next
The Rockies and Angels will be back in action Tuesday at 7:38 p.m. MDT. Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之 (4-4, 4.01 ERA) will get the start for the Rockies, while LHP Grayson Rodriguez (2-1, 7.53 ERA).
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