For 5 hours and 7 minutes in a day-night singleheader, competition overrode the standings.
The Rockies and Dodgers began Saturday fighting for third place. Their collective seasons drip of disappointment. But this game did not.
In their most entertaining comeback of the season, the Rockies won 7-6 in 13 innings at Coors Field, exiting with a victory on Dexter Fowler’s two- out single to left field.
His shot off reliever Blake Hawksworth brought joy, relief and redemption.
“For sure it was (cool), especially to do it on Todd’s birthday,” Fowler said. “He came up to me and said, ‘Thank you.’ “
Helton was rooting for a conclusion. His legs were tired. His back barked. He homered on his 38th birthday and doubled on his 39th. It only felt that way as his 15-pitch at-bat against reliever Javy Guerra was one the game’s signature moments in the 12th inning.
“It was the at-bat of the season,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.
Aaron Miles, whose 12th-inning home run stood ever-so- briefly as the day’s biggest moment, has witnessed Helton’s stare down before. They were teammates with Colorado years ago.
“Good job to Javy to keep going at him. Great player. Great battle,” Miles said. “He’s on everything just enough. He’s the guy you want in a situation like that.”
It was a day of the oddities — Helton saw 38 pitches on his 38th birthday in six at-bats. Eric Young Jr. — arguably the game’s best player with two hits, two walks, two diving catches and three steals — was gone after nine innings because of calf tightness. And there was no television broadcast, and the radio coverage was moved to a different station because of the Broncos’ preseason game.
The Rockies required a defibrillator, in part, because of Fowler’s misstep on Trent Oeltjen’s line drive. Miles had just homered, shoving the Dodgers ahead 5-4 when Oelt- jen smoked a ball to center field. Fowler dived as the ball cut away from him, scooting to the fence for an inside-the-park home run.
“I didn’t need to leave my feet. It’s in the past, though,” Fowler said. “I am just happy I got another chance.”
Mark Ellis provided the platform, soothing the pain of spoiled opportunities. In the 11th inning, the Rockies let Mike MacDougal escape a bases-loaded, one-out mess. Such failure is so common this season it has become cliche. The difference, for one day, is that it didn’t determine the outcome. Ellis doubled to right field off Hawksworth. Fowler then approached the plate with a plan.
“I figured he wasn’t going to try and come inside on me,” he said.
Looking for a pitch away, Fowler kept his hands back and rifled it to left. He flipped his bat in celebration and fired his helmet in the air as teammates mobbed him at first base.
“It was a long, long game,” said Helton, who homered for the fifth time on his birthday. “But we never gave up. You can’t.”
With that, Helton trudged home. He had candles to blow out, if he had enough energy left.
“He ended up with the at-bat of the game,” Miles said. “That’s vintage Helton.”
Looking ahead
TODAY: Dodgers at Rockies, 1:10 p.m., Root
Kevin Millwood (0-1, 4.85 ERA) is an innings guzzler. Even while allowing five home runs in two starts, he has worked 13 innings. With the Rockies’ future rotation getting younger, Millwood is auditioning for a potential fifth starter’s job next season. The rap against Chad Billingsley (10-9, 4.04) is that he’s never become a superstar. His stuff suggests that he shouldhard fastball, good breaking pitches. The right-hander has never pitched particularly well against Colorado and has been downright awful at Coors Field (1-5, 7.88 in seven games). Todd Helton is 12-for-26 off Billingsley with eight RBIs. Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Monday: Astros’ Brett Myers (3-12, 4.72 ERA) at Rockies’ Jhoulys Chacin (9-10, 3.59), 6:40 p.m., Root
Tuesday: Astros’ Bud Norris (6-8, 3.61) at Rockies’ Alex White (1-0, 3.60), 6:40 p.m, Root
Wednesday: Astros’ Wandy Rodriguez (9-9, 3.31) at Rockies’ Aaron Cook (3-7, 5.23), 1:10 p.m.
Thursday: Off
