On Harry Potter Night at Coors Field, the Colorado Rockies conjured enough magic to hang on for the win in a wizard’s duel against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Saturday night matchup had a number of trappings from recent games: A team struggling to find a single hit until, all of a sudden, an offensive outburst in the middle innings (this time, the Rockies were on the right side of that). Quick lead changes. Lots of errors (again, the Rockies were on the good side of this one.) A shrinking lead.
After
all of the drama and mystery, things came together for the Rockies’ 55th win of the season.
The first-year, Mason Adams
After the sorting hat ceremony and picking up his supplies from Diagon Alley, the rookie Mason Adams is settling into his role as a first-year student of the game. Tonight marked his first Coors Field start.
His first two starts have been effective, low-scoring affairs. Across those two starts, he allowed eight total hits and three total runs. Despite the low scores, he hasn’t had much run support behind him and his first win has eluded him.
Adams struggled a little more tonight, relative to his other outings. He gave up eight hits and three runs tonight, matching those totals from his first two games combined. He still put together a strong performance, finding ways to work out of traffic, logging seven strikeouts, and limiting run damage.
After walking the first batter in the first inning, Adams bounced back for a quick out. After a wild pitch advanced the runner, he proved resilient and got two straight strikeouts to end the inning without any damage.
Joshua Báez took Adams deep in the second for a solo home run. He then allowed another runner who would steal second, but again, Adams worked his way out of the inning.
Adams would give up two more runs in the fifth inning before being pulled with St. Louis up 3-0. Despite the hiccups, Adams held his own and continues to grow into a strong starter.
Manager Warren Schaeffer praised Adams after the game: “The heater was good. Both breaking balls were good. A couple good hitters just got him there. But I thought he competed well and was efficient and did a nice job tonight for us. Another step forward for him.”
Accio runs!
A look at the final score wouldn’t tell you the full story of the Rockies offense. The bats donned an invisibility cloak and disappeared early in what felt like another long night for the bats.
Colorado started the game on the wrong side of three straight 1-2-3 innings with three strikeouts in that stretch. The Rockies didn’t get their first baserunner until the fourth inning on a Connor Norby walk. They didn’t get their first hit until the fifth inning, when Cole Carrigg kicked things off with a single and a steal.
Then, the Rockies cast a spell and summoned runs. Lots of them.
With Carrigg on second and one out, Troy Johnston singled and then advanced to second on a throwing error to make it 3-1 Cardinals. An Adael Amador single brought it to 3-2. Things got wild for St. Louis’ starter Matthew Liberatore with a ball four pitch in the dirt that got away, and the game was tied at 3-3.
Liberatore ended his day there at 4.1 innings pitched, five earned runs on four hits, two walks, and three strikeouts.
The runners Liberatore allowed before being pulled were scored, as an error gave the Rockies’ their fourth run and a Norby single notched their fifth. TJ Rumfield doubled to score another.
From no hits to six runs in the blink of an eye, a whirlwind of solid hits and St. Louis errors gave the Rockies a three-run lead.
“Yer a wizard, Brennan!”
After a few runs allowed by Zack Agnos, Brennan Bernardino and the rest of the Rockies bullpen locked in and did their part.
Agnos entered in the fifth inning with a runner on first and two outs. He got the final out to hold the Cardinals’ lead at 3-0. The sixth inning didn’t go as well.
Agnos yielded back-to-back singles to start the inning, and a mound visit couldn’t calm him down, as he allowed a Nolan Gorman double that scored a run, bringing the game to 6-4. He allowed another run on a sacrifice fly before being pulled.
Bernardino was on a streak of eight consecutive appearances without allowing a run. Entering tonight’s game to replace Agnos, he did well despite inheriting a bit of a mess with one out and one on.
He first battled José Fermin for seven pitches before getting him to ground out. Ramón Urías met the same fate next, grounding out to end the inning. Bernardino had a quick, hitless, scoreless night and extended his streak to nine games.
Schaeffer gave a ton of credit to Bernardino for swinging the game.
“Bernie’s been huge all year, tonight was no exception,” he said. “What’s impressive with that is you know they’re going right-right, and it doesn’t matter to Bernie. He can get right-handers out, too, which is a testament to what he’s been doing all year. That was huge. That was a game changer.”
Jaden Hill had a great night as well, posting a flawless 1-2-3 seventh inning with two strikeouts. Nick Frasso was not to be left out of the clean inning fun. After getting Leo Bernal to fly out, he notched back to back strikeouts to work through the eighth.
Do they serve taco’s at Hogwarts?
A big bottom of the seventh put the Rockies into (and beyond) seven run taco territory. Colorado carried a 6-5 lead into the inning and were able to grow it quickly, taking it to Hancel Rincon.
After giving up a single to Tovar to start the inning, Rincon fell apart quickly. He next walked McCarthy on five pitches and then hit Norby with a pitch to load the bases. A Goodman line drive to left scored two and chased Rincon at 8-5.
Brycen Mautz got the first out, but gave up an RBI single to Carrigg and a sac bunt to Veen to make it a 10-5 Rockies lead when all was said and done.
Book Nine: Colorado Rockies and the inning of suspense
Yesterday’s game was one that got away. Colorado’s five-run lead going into the ninth inning felt like it should be good, but leads disappear quickly at Coors. Juan Mejia entered to close things out and, unfortunately, broke the nice scoreless momentum the bullpen had going.
Mejia walked Thomas Saggese, who was brought home faster than the Hogwarts Express can get you from King’s Cross to Hogsmeade after a Fermin double scored him from first to make it 10-6.
César Prieto pinch hit and grounded out, moving Fermin to third. Iván Herrera singled to score Fermin to give the Cardinals their seventh run. Jordan Romano replaced Mejia there.
Romano ran into some speedbumps of his own before getting the job done. Herrera moved to second before a Jordan Walker strikeout turned into trouble as a dropped third strike put runners on the corners. Leo Bernal hit a sharp line drive to right that Mickey Moniak tracked down for the win.
Up Next
The Rockies and Cardinals meet on Sunday afternoon for the final game of the series and their last meeting of the season. The Cards lead the season series 3-2.
Tanner Gordon is expected to start for the Rockies. Gordon is 1-4 through 14 starts and 20 total games, with a 5.18 ERA, a 1.40 WHIP, and 72 strikeouts.
Kyle Leahy is slated to go for St. Louis. Leahy brings a strong 10-4 record into the game through 26 starts, with a 3.13 ERA, a 1.31 WHIP, and 118 strikeouts.
First pitch is 1:10 p.m. MT.
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