Jamey Carroll drew a bases-loaded walk from Dan Wheeler in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, giving the Rockies a 5-4 win over the Houston Astros at Coors Field.
Astros closer Brad Lidge (0-2) blew his third save in 12 chances. He entered with a 4-3 lead but gave up a leadoff double to Brad Hawpe, who scored the tying run when third baseman Morgan Ensberg overthrew first base on Clint Barmes’ sacrifice bunt.
Barmes ended up at second and was sacrificed to third by pinch hitter Choo Freeman. Pinch hitter Eli Marrero drew a five-pitch walk, and Wheeler replaced Lidge.
After Marrero took second on defensive indifference, the Astros intentionally walked Cory Sullivan to load the bases with one out.
Carroll, who went 3-for-4, worked the count full and then watched Wheeler miss high and outside with ball four, giving the Rockies their fifth walk-off win of the season.
On deck watching it all was first baseman Todd Helton, who was 1-for-4 in his first game since going on the 15-day DL last month with an intestinal infection that landed him in the hospital for three days.
Ramon Ramirez (2-0), who allowed one hit and struck out three in two innings, got the win. One of the runs off Lidge was unearned because of Ensberg’s error.
Preston Wilson’s three RBIs staked Taylor Buchholz a 4-0 lead in his fourth major-league start. He allowed three runs – two earned – and six hits in seven-plus innings.
After allowing a single to Carroll leading off the eighth, Buchholz was replaced by left-hander Mike Gallo, whose only pitch was hit into right field by Helton for a single.
That put runners at the corners and brought in Chad Qualls, who got Garrett Atkins on a 5-4-3 double play that scored Carroll, making it 4-3. Qualls got Matt Holliday on a groundout to second to end the eighth.
Buchholz’s only trouble came in the fourth, when he gave up two runs, one of them unearned.
Atkins scored from second on first baseman Lance Berkman’s throwing error, and Barmes, who had missed the past two games while attending a cousin’s funeral, followed with a run-scoring groundout to short to cut the Rockies’ deficit to 4-2.
Rockies starter Byung-Hyun Kim allowed four earned runs and seven hits in seven innings.
