WILD THRILLER
Wolters provides winning run with single off Hendricks Rockies head to Milwaukee on Thursday for NLDS
Above, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado hits a sacrifice fly, scoring Charlie Blackmon in the first inning of Tuesday night’s National League wildcard game in Chicago. At right, starting pitcher Kyle Freeland gathers himself before the postseason game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. The Rockies beat the Cubs 21 in 13 innings on Tony Wolters’ RBI single.
CHICAGO» Rocktober went deep into the night Tuesday before the Rockies outlasted the Cubs 21 in 13 innings in the National League wildcard game. Three consecutive twoout singles against Kyle Hendricks in the 13th, the last by Tony Wolters on an 02 count, gave Colorado the victory in the longest postseason elimination game in baseball history.
Consecutive twoout singles by Trevor Story and Geraldo Parra, and then Wolters’ huge hit on a third consecutive changeup, ended a dramatic night.
The Rockies now face the Brewers in the bestoffive divisional series starting Thursday in Milwaukee.
The Rockies had many chances to take the lead but could not deliver until Wolters’ big hit won the game.
“I was trying to get something to just put in the outfield,” Wolters told ESPN. “I got the pitch, I got a changeup, I put it up the middle. It felt great.”
Ian Desmond’s empty atbat in the ninth appeared a killer at the time. With Story on second and two outs, Desmond struck out looking at Pedro Strop’s 12 slider over the heart of the plate. In the 11th, David Dahl grounded out to first with the bases loaded and two outs vs. veteran Cole Hamels.
Not to be forgotten was Kyle Freeland’s night. The lefthander delivered one of the best pitching performance in Rockies history. He was sensational,
rising to the moment on the big stage in front of 40,151 screaming Cubs addicts (with a sprinkling of Rockies fans in the mix). Freeland pitched 6M scoreless innings, yielding only four hits, walking one and striking out six.
He gave the Rockies everything they wanted, but the Cubs tied the game in the eighth on MVP candidate Javier Baez’s two-out double off Adam Ottavino to left center to score Terrance Gore, who was running for Anthony Rizzo, who blitzed a two-out single to rightcenter. Gore pinch ran for Rizzo and stole second on the first pitch.
Freeland, a Colorado native, pitching in his first postseason game, displayed stone-cold poise in the sixth. He gave up a leadoff walk to pinch hitter Ian Happ, and the sold-out crowd began rocking Wrigley Field with mocking chants of “Free-land! Free-land!” Freeland ignored it all and struck out Ben Zobrist.
Then right fielder David Dahl misplayed Kris Bryant’s shallow pop up and Chicago had two on, one out and a tidal wave of momentum. No problem for Freeland. He got Rizzo to ground out to second baseman DJ LeMahieu who started an easy double play. LeMahieu left the field pounding his fist into his glove.
Freeland was untouchable during most of the game. After Albert Almora Jr.’s lead off single in the first, Freeland retired the next 13 Cubs he faced. He got a big assist from center fielder Charlie Blackmon for the second out of the second inning. Blackmon perfectly read Wilson Contreras’ line drive off the bat and made a running catch in right-center.
“It’s going to be a battle, we understand that. The Brewers are a really good team,” Third baseman Nolan Arenado said about Colorado’s NLDS matchup. “But we’re more than prepared. We’re excited for the opportunity. We’re here now. We got through the wild card, which last year we didn’t, so we’re more than prepared.”
Cubs starter Jon Lester was impressive, too. Making the 22nd start in a postseason game, Lester allowed one run on four hits, walked one and struck out nine over his six innings.
The Rockies put a run on the scoreboard in the first inning, although a possible big inning fizzled. Blackmon drew a walk off Lester to open the game and DJ LeMahieu ripped a ball to the leftcenter gap. Blackmon would have scored easily from first, but the ball got stuck Wrigley’s famous ivy and LeMahieu’s hit was ruled a ground-rule double. Blackmon was already in the dugout, but had to go back to third. He scored on Arenado’s sacrifice fly to center. Lester whiffed Trevor Story and Matt Holliday to end the inning.
The seventh inning stressed hearts throughout the Rocky Mountain region. After Freeland departed, Adam Ottavino came in and nearly threw the game away. He uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Albert Almora to advance to second. After Daniel Murphy lined out to a diving Trevor Story at short, Ottavino walked Wilson Contreras. The inning appeared to be over when Tommy La Stella grounded out, but catcher Drew Butera was called for catcher interference.
Colorado seemed to be coming apart at the seams. But Ottavino reached back and struck out pitch hitter Jayson Heyward with a 97 mph fastball, Ottavino’s fastest pitch of the season.
Dahl, who smacked a home run in six of seven games during the Rockies final week of the regular season, came inches away from hitting his first postseason home run on the first pitch of his first postseason at-bat. In the second inning, he drove Lester’s 91 mph fastball to the center-field wall where Almora made the catch.
Colorado had prime chances to score in both the fourth and sixth, but Lester slammed the door.