The Rockies came home trying to end a losing streak against a reeling division opponent. They did it by turning a frustrating offensive night into their first walk-off win of the season.
Colorado beat San Francisco 8-6 on Friday at Coors Field, improving to 21-37 while dropping the Giants to 22-35. The Rockies trailed 4-1 in the eighth and 6-3 in the ninth before Hunter Goodman tied the game with a three-run homer and Ezequiel Tovar ended it with a two-run shot.
Tovar drove in four runs with homers
in the eighth and ninth. Goodman drove in three on the game-tying blast. Juan Mejia, despite allowing two runs in the top of the ninth, got the win. Caleb Kilian took the loss after allowing five runs in the ninth.
Lorenzen bends in the middle innings
Michael Lorenzen’s first two innings were clean enough. He struck out Casey Schmitt in the first, worked a clean second, and helped himself with a good play on Matt Chapman’s soft comebacker.
San Francisco started getting to him in the third. Bryce Eldridge doubled to left, moved to third on Harrison Bader’s flyout, and scored on Willy Adames’ sacrifice fly. Adames’ out was hit 416 feet at 101.4 mph, a sign the Giants were starting to square Lorenzen up.
The fourth brought the damage. Rafael Devers opened with a walk, but Lorenzen got Chapman to hit into a forceout. Jung Hoo Lee followed with a single to right, putting runners on the corners, and Daniel Susac gave San Francisco a 2-1 lead with a sacrifice fly to center.
Lorenzen then walked Eldridge, moving Lee into scoring position. Bader followed with a 98.6 mph two-out ground-ball single to right, scoring Lee and moving Eldridge to third. That made it 3-1 and ended Lorenzen’s night.
Lorenzen finished with three runs allowed on five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts over 3.2 innings. His ERA rose to 7.22. He threw 70 pitches and used six offerings, led by 22 cutters. His velocity ranged from 81.9 to 96.4 mph.
Webb keeps the Rockies from cashing in
Logan Webb was not efficient in his return from the injured list, but he kept the Rockies from turning traffic into runs.
Colorado’s first run came in the second. Tovar walked, and Edouard Julien followed with a sharp single to center. It was Julien’s first hit in 35 at-bats, snapping an 0-for-34 skid and keeping him one hitless at-bat shy of the Rockies’ record.
With runners on the corners, Julien broke for second but stopped short of the bag as Luis Arráez moved to cover. Arráez threw home, and Tovar slid in safely on the delayed steal. Julien still reached second, and the Rockies had a 1-0 lead.
They had chances after that but did not finish them.
Tyler Freeman singled in the third but was caught stealing. The Rockies rebuilt the inning with a TJ Rumfield single and a Goodman walk, but Troy Johnston flew out. In the fourth, Tovar reached on Webb’s throwing error and advanced to third, but Lee ran down Kyle Karros’ liner in right and crashed into the wall to end the inning. In the fifth, Freeman was hit by a pitch and Goodman doubled after Webb exited, putting two runners in scoring position. Colorado came away empty again.
Webb allowed one run on three hits and three walks over 4.1 innings, striking out five and lowering his ERA to 4.82. He threw 86 pitches, only 28 for strikes in the zone, but the Rockies still swung 38 times. Webb leaned on five pitches, led by 27 sinkers and 23 cutters. Colorado managed only three hard-hit balls against him and put six balls on the ground.
Hill and Halvorsen hold the line
Jaden Hill kept the game from getting away after Lorenzen exited.
Hill entered with two outs in the fourth and got Adames to fly out with two runners aboard. In the fifth, Schmitt hit a hard one-out double, but Hill answered with back-to-back swinging strikeouts of Devers and Chapman. Both came on fastballs, including a 97.9 mph fastball that Devers swung through.
Hill finished with 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two. His ERA dropped to 2.61.
Welinton Herrera opened the sixth and ran into traffic. Lee singled, and after Susac flew out, Eldridge walked. Seth Halvorsen entered with two on and one out and gave the Rockies one of their best pitching sequences of the night — Back-to-back strikeouts of Bader and Adames to end the frame.
Halvorsen worked around a two-out Devers single in the seventh with help from his defense. Tovar made a leaping catch on Arraez’s liner, and Freeman made a diving catch in right on Schmitt. Halvorsen then got Chapman to fly out.
Herrera was charged with one hit and one walk while recording one out. Halvorsen followed with 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two.
The comeback arrives late
San Francisco added a run in the eighth against Keegan Thompson without much force. Lee led off with a soft double down the third-base line, Susac bunted him to third, and Eldridge brought him home with a sacrifice fly to center. Thompson struck out Bader to end the inning, but the Giants led 4-1.
Colorado answered against Keaton Winn, who entered with a 1.82 ERA and had been one of San Francisco’s better bullpen arms. Johnston opened the bottom of the eighth by swinging at the first pitch and dropping a soft single into center. Willi Castro flew out, but Tovar attacked a first-pitch 95.3 mph fastball and drove it 441 feet to dead center.
The two-run homer cut the deficit to 4-3.
The Giants pushed the lead back out in the ninth. Mejia got Adames to ground out, then hit Arraez with a 98.5 mph fastball. Schmitt lined out, but Devers tripled to right on a ball deflected by Jake McCarthy in center, scoring Arraez. Chapman followed with an RBI single to right, making it 6-3. Lee singled before Susac flew out to end the inning.
That gave the Rockies one more chance, and they did not waste it.
Kilian replaced Winn to start the bottom of the ninth, and Drew Gilbert entered in center field. McCarthy opened with a ground-ball single back to the mound. Freeman followed with a line-drive single to center, moving McCarthy to second. Rumfield flew out to right, allowing McCarthy to reach third.
Goodman came up as the tying run and drove a ball down the left-field line.
The umpires reviewed the home run call, and the ruling stood. Goodman’s 13th homer of the season tied the game at 6-6.
Johnston struck out for the second out, but Castro singled to right. Tovar followed with his second homer in as many innings, a two-run shot to left that gave the Rockies an 8-6 win.
It was the Rockies’ first walk-off win of the season.
Final thoughts
Tovar was the best player on the field tonight. He made several solid defensive plays, scored the Rockies’ first run on the delayed steal, hit the two-run homer in the eighth, and ended the game in the ninth. He finished 2-for-4 with two homers and four RBI.
Goodman had already doubled in the fifth before tying the game with his three-run homer in the ninth. Julien’s single snapped an 0-34 streak. Hill continued to pitch well, and Halvorsen’s two strikeouts in the sixth kept the Rockies close enough for the late comeback to matter.
The Rockies still left chances on the field. They went 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base. But they also finished with 13 hits, played clean defense, and finally got the late swings they had been missing.
Mejia earned the win despite allowing two runs in the ninth, moving to 1-4 with a 5.13 ERA. Kilian took the loss for San Francisco, falling to 1-3 with a 3.96 ERA.
Up next
The Rockies continue their series against the Giants on Saturday at Coors Field. Ryan Feltner is scheduled to start for Colorado against San Francisco right-hander Adrian Houser.
Feltner enters at 1-1 with a 6.30 ERA and 17 strikeouts, while Houser comes in at 2-4 with a 5.30 ERA and 31 strikeouts. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. MDT.
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