Heroes have been hard to find for the Rockies, but Friday night, there were plenty of them in LoDo.
Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar ripped an RBI single down the left-field line off Phillies left-hander Gregory Soto to score Brenton Doyle from third and lift Colorado to a thrilling 3-2 victory.
Tovar hit Soto’s 0-1 slider for the second walk-off hit of his career.
“Honestly, I was just thinking, ‘Get a good at-bat there because our bullpen did a hell of a job tonight,’ ” Tovar said, using bullpen catcher Aaron Munoz as his interpreter.
“Situations like that are extremely fun,” Tovar continued. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous in pregame or in any of those at-bats. But any situation, in any at-bat, I just try to get a hit up the middle, basically.”
Tovar, who went 4 for 6 and had the first four-hit game of his career, would not have had the chance to don Superman’s cape had it not been for backup catcher Jacob Stallings. Or a lockdown night by the bullpen.
In the ninth, with the Rockies trailing 2-1 and down to their final out, Stallings ripped a 427-foot, pinch-hit homer off Phillies closer Jose Alvarado to tie the game, 2-2. Stallings ambushed Alvarado’s first pitch, a 97 mph sinker, to send the game into extra innings.
“I know what a tough at-bat Alvarado is,” said Stallings, who hit the first pinch-hit homer of his nine-year career. “But that was a really cool moment and it ranks up there as one of my favorites. But contributing to the win was the most important thing.”
Stallings is the third player in Rockies history to launch a game-tying, pinch-hit home run with two outs in the ninth inning. The others were Larry Walker, on July 17, 1999, at Cincinnati, and Sam Hillard, on Sept. 28, 2019, vs. Milwaukee.
And Colorado’s much-maligned relief corps came through big time.
Reliever Nick Mears found himself against the ropes in the 10th. A one-out walk by Whit Merrifield, followed by a bloop single to center by pinch-hitter Kody Clemens, loaded the bases. But Mears struck out the dangerous Kyle Schwarber looking at a curveball and got J.T. Realmuto to ground out to first.
On a night when Colorado desperately needed a reliever to come through, Mears delivered two scoreless innings. And then Tyler Kinley delivered a scoreless 11th to notch the win.
The Rockies have become extra-inning warriors. They beat Oakland in 12 innings Wednesday night and lost to the A’s in 11 innings on Thursday. Friday marked just the second time the Rockies have played three consecutive extra-inning games. It last happened June 20-22, 2002, when the Rockies beat the Yankees in the 10th, followed by a win over Tampa in the 10th, then another win over Tampa in the 11th.
Before all of the late-game drama, Colorado left-hander Ty Blach pitched a terrific game.
The Phillies came to LoDo on a roll, having won 29 of their previous 35 games but Colorado went toe-to-toe with them.
The night’s fireworks came early when Phillies star first baseman Bryce Harper was ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Brian Walsh. Harper struck out on three pitches against Blach. Harper spiked his batting helmet and then continued to argue. It was Harper’s first ejection of the season and the 21st of his career.
“Bummed,” Harper told reporters in the Philadelphia clubhouse. “I wasn’t trying to get thrown out. I was just having a conversation. There are guys who are professionals in this league. They understand it. I guess 120 didn’t understand it.”
The “120” Harper reference is Walsh’s umpire jersey number.
Crew chief Vic Carapazza provided a pool report about Harper’s ejection after the game.
“What led to the ejection was that Bryce Harper was clearly upset about the pitches and Brian gave him a long leash,” Carapazza said. “He kept him in the game, and Bryce just kept arguing about balls and strikes and, at the end of the day, equipment violation is basically a big warning and, if you continue to talk about pitches, then Brian had to handle it. So that’s it, really.”
Besides striking out Harper, Blach set the stage for the Rockies’ victory. Following in the footsteps of Cal Quantrill, Austin Gomber and Ryan Feltner’s excellent starts in Oakland, Blach slowed down the Phillies for 6 2/3 innings.
The Phillies hurt him with two swings in the fifth inning. Nick Castellanos led off with a 445-foot blast to center, teeing off on Blach’s 1-0 cutter. Two batters later, Edmundo Sosa launched Blach’s 2-1 sinker into the left-field bleacher for a 2-0 Philly lead.
Blach allowed five hits, struck out two, and walked two. Of his 78 pitches, 58 were thrown for strikes. Most impressive, his only three-ball counts of the night came vs. the final two batters he faced.
“The key was to pitch down,” Blach said. “I know they like to do damage, so I tried to get some groundballs.
He threw 78 pitches, 58 for strikes, in his very efficient night.
“When I’m right, that’s how things are going,” he said. “I’m just attacking the zone and changing speeds, going in and out. The changeup was good tonight and I was able to keep those guys off-balance.”
Colorado sliced Philadelphia’s lead in half in the bottom of the fifth, combining a double by Hunter Goodman, a single up the middle for Alan Trejo, who was filling in at third base for Ryan McMahon, and an RBI single by Tovar. Tovar’s 23 RBIs rank are tied for second on the team with Elias Diaz and trail only McMahon (30).
Saturday’s pitching matchup
Phillies RHP Aaron Nola (6-2, 3.05 ERA) at Rockies RHP Dakota Hudson (1-7, 5.89)
7:10 p.m. Saturday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
While right-hander Cal Quantrill and lefty Austin Gomber have been pitching like All-Stars this month, Hudson continues to struggle. But he has made some progress, even though he picked up his seventh loss on Sunday at San Francisco. He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits over 4 2/3 innings. Lack of pitch efficiency has been a problem for the right-hander all season. And Hudson has struggled at Coors Field, going 0-3 with a 9.00 ERA, 15 walks and 11 strikeouts over four starts. In five career starts against the Phillies, he’s 1-2 with a 3.58 ERA, 16 walks and 15 strikeouts. As a member of the Cardinals last season, he made two starts against Philly, going 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA.
Nola has pitched well against Colorado, going 4-2 with a 3.36 ERA in 10 starts, striking out 72 while walking only 11. He dominated the Rockies in Philadelphia last month, allowing one run on four hits over 7 1/3 innings. He fanned nine and walked one. Nola is coming off a strong performance vs. the Nationals last Sunday when he allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits and three walks across seven innings. He struck out five. In five career starts at Coors Field, he’s 2-2 with a 4.22 ERA.
Pitching probables
Sunday: Phillies LHP Ranger Suarez (9-0, 1.36) at Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (3-3, 3.59), 1:10 p.m.
Monday: Guardians RHP Xzavion Curry (2-2, 1.93) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (1-2, 2.76), 2:10 p.m.
Tuesday: Rockies TBD at Guardians TBD, 6:40 p.m.
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