Rockies hold ground with walk-off homer
Lemahieu blast maintains edge in NL West
DENVER — DJ Lemahieu found himself in the spotlight, even if he doesn’t much care for being in the spotlight.
Walk-off homers will do that. Especially the first one of his career, in the middle of a heated division race.
Lemahieu hit a two-run homer off Yoshihisa Hirano in the ninth inning, and the NL West-leading Rockies rallied to beat the Diamondbacks 5-4 on Wednesday night.
“It was cool. Just a great moment,” the soft-spoken Lemahieu said. “That was awesome.”
Lemahieu launched a fastball over the fence in right as the Rockies kept their 1½-game advantage over Los Angeles intact after the Dodgers beat Cincinnati earlier in the day. The Diamondbacks fell 3½ games behind in the division race.
This is the latest in the season the Rockies have been alone in first place since 1995.
A night after getting his first career save, Hirano (4-3) allowed a single by Gerardo Parra off the glove of first baseman Paul Goldschmidt to begin the ninth. Charlie Blackmon bunted Parra over to second, and Lemahieu followed with the walk-off homer. He was doused with water after crossing home plate as fans chanted “DJ, DJ, DJ!”
“I was just looking to drive the ball. It was a lot of fun,” Lemahieu said.
Hirano’s pitch to Lemahieu was the latest miscue by a struggling Arizona bullpen where some roles have been juggled.
“He just made a mistake,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “He threw a fastball that could be taken the other way.”
Overlooked in Lemahieu’s ninth-inning theatrics was the performance of Colorado’s bullpen, which turned in five perfect innings, including two each by Chris Rusin and Scott Oberg. Wade Davis (3-6) picked up the win by pitching a flawless ninth, including two strikeouts.
That marks the first time the Rockies’ bullpen has tossed five perfect innings in franchise history, according to the team.
“Awesome the bullpen was able to do our job tonight, throw up a bunch of zeroes and give our team a chance,” Oberg said. “In this building, really anything can happen from an offensive standpoint.”