Noah Spirek | @NoahSpirek | June 20, 2024
One night after their toughest defeat of the season at the hands of the Dodgers, the Colorado Rockies responded with a revitalizing walk-off victory over Los Angeles.
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Game Story
Wednesday’s game saw an early and relentless offensive onslaught from both sides.
For the second straight night, the Rockies used a big first inning to jump out to an initial advantage. On Tuesday, Colorado led 4-0 after the first frame. On Wednesday, they scored three times in the 1st, all coming on a Michael Toglia three-run homer. Toglia’s sixth of the season traveled 427 feet, but the Rockies did not stay in front for long.
In the 2nd, the Dodgers answered the Rockies’ big inning with one of their own. After LA loaded the bases against Colorado starter Ryan Feltner, Shohei Ohtani stepped to the plate and promptly emptied them. He laced a bases-clearing double, tying the game at 3-3. One batter later, Freddie Freeman brought Ohtani home with an RBI single, giving the Dodgers a 4-3 lead.
The score held until the 4th, when the Rockies evened the game. Michael Toglia led off the inning with a triple, and Sean Bouchard, making his first appearance since June 5th when he injured his ankle, scored Toglia with an RBI groundout.
Unfortunately, the Rockies could not get a shutdown inning to maintain momentum, and the Dodgers reclaimed the lead in the 5th. Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages both singled to set up Jason Heyward with runners on the corners and one out. After clubbing a grand slam in the 9th on Tuesday, Heyward came through again, ripping an RBI double off the wall in right field and giving the Dodgers a 6-4 lead.
Colorado tied the game in the 7th with a series of team at-bats. Sean Bouchard led off the inning with a double, and Jake Cave moved him to third on a groundout. Then, Elehuris Montero poked a ball to third, which was booted by third baseman Cavan Biggio, allowing Montero to reach and the Rockies to pick up their fifth run.
The next hitter, Adael Amador, hit his first career double, which moved Montero to third and set up a Brenton Doyle sacrifice fly to tie the game, 6-6.
The Dodgers threatened to score and take the lead in the 8th. After Rockies reliever Jake Bird got the first two outs of the inning with ease, he surrendered a double to Enrique Hernández and a walk to pinch hitter Will Smith, setting up a duel with Shohei Ohtani.
Jake Bird fired three consecutive strikes, catching Ohtani looking at strike three at the knees. A huge strikeout invigorated Bird and the Coors Field crowd of 37,503.
After Jalen Beeks fired a scoreless top half of the 9th for Colorado, the Rockies had an opportunity for payback from Tuesday’s game in the form of a walk-off win.
The Rockies began their 9th with consecutive singles by Jake Cave and Elehuris Montero, and Adael Amador reached on a forceout, setting up runners on the corners with one out for Brenton Doyle.
Doyle lifted an 0-1 sweeper deep into center field, and Cave, fittingly, sprinted home on the sacrifice fly to secure a Rockies victory over the Dodgers.
Quotes
Manager Bud Black on the ninth inning: “Jake [Cave] had a good at-bat against a guy with good stuff. He took a ball the other way; good professional at-bat… Then ‘Monty’ found a hole… Amador put the ball in play on a 3-2 count after a couple of good takes… Doyle took a low fastball for a ball and then got a breaking ball up in the zone and drove it deep. Those four guys put good at-bats together.”
Bud Black on the bullpen: “[Nick] Mears, [Jake] Bird, and [Jalen] Beeks put up four zeros… Bird let it all hang out. That was good. He showed his emotion, which is fine. Let guys do what they do.“
Bud Black on Jake Cave’s past 24 hours: “It’s serendipitous isn’t it? It happens sometimes. There’s Jake in the ninth with the game-winning run. It’s the magic of baseball, right? Good for Jake, he had a good game.”
Notes
Adael Amador recorded his first multi-hit game and collected his first extra-base hit with a double in the seventh. At 21 years and 69 days, Amador becomes the youngest Rockies player ever to reach base three times in one game.
Brenton Doyle recorded his first career walk-off RBI with the game-winning sacrifice fly.
Tuesday and Wednesday’s games are the first time Colorado has scored seven or more runs in back-to-back games against the Dodgers since June 27-28, 2019 (1,818 days ago).
What’s Next for the Colorado Rockies?
On Thursday, the Rockies and the Dodgers will play the series finale of their four-game set. Probable starters are RHP Gavin Stone (7-2, 3.01 ERA) for Los Angeles and LHP Ty Blach (3-4, 4.65 ERA) for Colorado. The Rockies aim for a series split with Los Angeles. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 MT.
Story by Noah Spirek.
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