San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Big Arizona swings, bigger Colorado miss
Paul Goldschmidt keeps providing souvenirs at Coors Field. What killed the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night wasn’t his second straight two-homer game but a dribbler to the mound by pinch-hitter Ketel Marte that keyed Arizona’s 12-7 comeback win.
The possible double play became a double error when Bryan Shaw booted the ball, then whipped it into right field.
“Paul has two huge home runs and has a tremendous day and they can’t pick up a ball that you practice probably 500 times in spring training and throughout the course of the year,” marveled Arizona manager Torey Lovullo. “We took advantage of it. Glad we were able to pile on six runs.”
Shaw (2-5) entered the game to protect a 7-6 lead and allowed six runs — only one of them earned — while getting just two outs in the eighth before leaving to a chorus of boos and insults from the crowd of 43,000-plus.
Following John Ryan Murphy’s leadoff bloop single, Shaw figured he had an easy double play when he got Marte to dribble a soft comebacker. So did Marte.
“I made contact and ran,” said Marte, who wouldn’t stop until he was on third base. Shaw was in no mood to excuse his meltdown.
“I mean, the hits were whatever. I field that, throw to second, we turn the double play, I strike out the next guy, the inning’s over. Nothing else happens after that,” Shaw said.
Silvino Bracho (2-0) threw a pair of 1-2-3 in- nings and struck out four in relief of starter Matt Koch, who gave up three homers, including Trevor Story’s 13th and 14th, and one to DJ LeMahieu.
Braves 5, Dodgers 3: Catcher Tyler Flowers hit a tie-breaking two-run double in the third inning and added an RBI single in the fifth for visiting Atlanta. Astros 4, Rangers 3: George Springer hit a tie-breaking single in the seventh inning and visiting Houston overcame a wild start from Charlie Morton, who tied an American League record with four hit batters and had a career-high six walks. Yankees 4, Mets 3: Aaron Judge hit a tie-breaking drive in the eighth inning and the visiting Yankees won a game of home run derby, overcoming a 3-0 deficit to beat the Mets for their sixth straight victory in the Subway Series.
Cubs 2, Pirates 0: Jon Lester combined with two relievers on a one-hitter, and host Chicago took a 2-0 lead after six pitches by Nick Kingman, taking advantage of a first-inning slip by Pittsburgh center fielder Starling Marte for its 11th win in 13 games.
Brewers 12, Phillies 3: Ji-Man Choi hit a go-ahead, pinch-hit grand slam in the sixth inning, and Jesus Aguilar and Jonathan Villar also went deep in visiting Milwaukee’s victory. Cardinals 6, Reds 4: Yadier Molina doubled with the bases loaded, and Michael Wacha pitched two-run ball into the sixth inning, leading visiting St. Louis to its 13th straight win over Cincinnati. Red Sox 4, White Sox 2: J.D. Martinez hit a tie-breaking two-run homer, David Price pitched six solid innings to win his fifth straight decision for host Boston.
Angels 2, Twins 1: Albert Pujols hit his 623rd career homer and tied Stan Musial for seventh on the career RBI list with 1,951, helping visiting Los Angeles beat Minnesota after a four-hour rain delay.
Tigers 4, Indians 2: Jeimer Candelario’s two-run homer in the 12th inning off Indians closer Cody Allen lifted host Detroit over Cleveland.
Rays 7, Mariners 3: Blake Snell overcame occasional wildness to go six effective innings, and host Tampa Bay stopped an eight-game losing streak by beating Felix Hernandez and Seattle.
Padres 5, Marlins 4: Travis Jankowski hit a go-ahead bases-loaded single in the eighth inning to lift visiting San Diego over Miami.
Blue Jays 4, Orioles 3: Luke Maile drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning for Toronto. Baltimore is 9-26 on the road and 19-44 overall, both worst in the majors.