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Bullpen nearly squanders 6-run lead in 9th before Bard closes door, preserves win
No lead is safe at Coors Field. That’s no cliche.
Colorado’s six-run rally in the eighth inning Tuesday night seemed to put them comfortably ahead, 8-2.
Seemed to.
But the Arizona Diamondbacks stormed back in the ninth against relievers Phillip Diehl and Jairo Diaz to score five runs. It was left to Daniel Bard to close out the 8-7 victory. He struck out Stephen Vogt looking with a slider with two runners on base. It was Bard’s sixth career save, his first since June 5, 2011, with Boston.
The hair-pulling victory improved the Rockies’ record to a stellar 12-5 but raised more questions about their teetering bullpen.
Lost in the late-game dramatics was the fact that starter Kyle Freeland once again showed true grit. And the Rockies’ offense displayed the kind of firepower that makes them a potentially very dangerous team at Coors Field.
Colorado’s six-run, eighth-inning rally began with a leadoff triple by speedster Garrett Hampson, who jogged home on Trevor Story’s RBI single. Story scored on a double off the right-field wall by — who else? — Joltin’ Charlie Blackmon.
Daniel Murphy (RBI single), Raimel Tapia (two-run double) and Tony Wolters (RBI single) put the finishing touches on an inning in which the Rockies sent 11 men to the plate. Hampson, by the way, added a double in the eighth, becoming the first Rockies player to ever hit a triple and a double in the same inning.
For those keeping score at home, Blackmon extended his hitting streak to 15 games, going 3-for-4. The right
fielder is now hitting .500. (34-for68). During his streak, he’s batting an otherworldly .567 (34-for-60).
Freeland, whose improved changeup has made him a groundball machine, continued his redemption tour. The left-hander set up the Rockies, allowing two runs on seven hits over seven innings. Two mistakes cost him. Christian Walker hit a 451-foot solo shot in the fourth to put Arizona in front, 1-0, and Carson Kelly hit a solo homer down the left-field line in the seventh to tie the game 2-2.
Freeland entered the game having forced six ground ball double plays this season, tied for the most in the majors. He now leads the majors and No. 7 was huge.
The D-backs’ threatened in the sixth when Starling Marte put down a bunt single and David Peralta reached on an infield single to the right side in which first baseman Daniel Murphy got caught in no man’s land and failed to cover the bag.
But Freeland bore down, threw a 3-2 changeup and got Christian Walker to ground to shortstop Trevor Story, who started the double play. When Eduardo Escobar lined out to Story for the third out, Freeland let loose with a primal scream.
Nolan Arenado’s fourth home run of the season was a 428-foot rocket to dead center off righthander Zac Gallen in the fourth. The two-run shot — he drove in Blackmon who singled — put Colorado temporarily in front, 2-1.
Gallen matched Freeland for seven innings, his only big mistake being the homer to Arenado. While Freeland escaped trouble with groundball outs, Gallen struck out seven.
Arenado’s in a good place after sitting on the bench on Sunday at Seattle in an attempt to get out of his early-season funk. It was good therapy.
He went 4-for-4 on Monday night, prompting this remarkable career statistic. In games following a game in which he did not play, Arenado has batted .427 (41for-96) with 25 runs, eight doubles, one triple, 13 home runs and 41 RBIs.