A sellout crowd of 48,084 came to Coors Field tonight for fireworks. They ended up getting a two-for-one special on oohs and ahs.
Ryan Spilborgh’s bases-loaded, one-out single in the 11th inning lifted the Rockies to a 6-5 victory over the Florida Marlins. It was the Rockies’ third straight victory and one of their most stirring of the season.
Spliborgh’s clutch line drive came off Marlins reliever Kevin Gregg.
Greg was his own worst enemy. He opened the 11th inning walking Yorvit Torrealba. Next, he scooped up Scott Podsednik’s sacrifice bunt but threw the ball away, allowing the runners to advance. He then walked Troy Tulowitzki, loading the bases. Gregg got Omar Quintanilla to ground out, but Spliborgh’s drilled Gregg’s 1-2 slider into left-center for the game-winner.
The Rockies blew a chance to win the game in the 10th. Spilborghs walked and stole second and the Marlins intentionally walked slugger Matt Holliday. But Garrett Atkins popped out to third baseman Wes Helms in foul territory, then Helms made a diving stab on Jeff Baker’s ground ball, forcing Holliday out at second to end the inning.
The Rockies reached extra innings thanks to Baker. With first baseman Todd Helton out of the lineup because of a sore lower back, Baker stepped up and delivered. Baker drove in four runs, including a two-run homer in the second inning and a sacrifice fly the eighth that tied the game 4-all, ultimately sending it into extra innings.
The Rockies received all they could ask for from starter Mark Redman. His fastball topped out at 83 mph, but his pinpoint control and location kept the Marlins off-balance. The veteran left-hander, called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs when the Rockies put Jeff Francis on the disabled list Wednesday, allowed to runs on six hits in six innings.
Redman gave up the two runs on three singles in the second but settled in after that. He induced three critical double plays, including a come-backer to him in the fifth. Redman fielded Hermida’s grounder, fired to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki covering second, who fired to Jeff Baker at first to end the inning. Redman’s fist pump punctuated the moment.
Setup man Taylor Buchholz has been superb for Colorado, having not allowed a run in 18 of his last 19 appearances. But in the eighth, Buchholz gave up a two-out single to Jeremy Hermida, then Florida’s Jorge Cantu took a low-and-way curveball and blasted into the left-field bleachers for a two-run homer. It was Cantu’s 15th homer of the season and looked like it would be the game-winner.
“I thought it was a good pitch, but you have to tip your hat to him,” Buchholz said. “He went down and got it.”
But the Rockies rallied in the bottom of the eighth, stringing together bloop singles by Barmes and Holliday, and Bakers’ sacrifice fly to deep right.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
