The Rockies’ Rafael Betancourt is removed from the game after giving up a grand slam home run to Alex Guerrero in the ninth inning during Game 2 of a double header at Coors Field on June 2, 2015 in Denver. (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)
Here’s an anatomy of a game-winning (or game-losing) grand slam home run:
Leading the Dodgers 8-5 going into the ninth inning Tuesday night, Rockies manager Walt Weiss picks 40-year-old right handed reliever Rafael Betancourt to close out the game. Betancourt had appeared in the first-game of Tuesday’s doubleheader, but had thrown only three pitches.
- Alberto Callaspo singles up the middle off Betancourt, followed by singles by Jimmy Rollins and Chris Heisey to load the bases with no outs.
- Betancourt strikes out Justin Turner for the first out.
- Joc Pederson pops out to Brandon Barnes in shallow left field for the second out.
- On Betancourt’s 1-2, 91 mph fastball over the heart of the plate, Alex Guerrero hits the first grand slam of his big-league career — the ball barely sliding over the center field wall and just out of reach of center fielder Charlie Blackmon — to give the Dodgers a 9-8 lead.
“The ball touched my glove. I was pretty close,” Blackmon said from the Rockies somber clubhouse after the game. “It was never in the glove, but I touched it. Off the bat, I didn’t think he got it. It carried farther than I thought it would.”
Weiss, watching from the dugout, thought Blackmon had made a spectacular, game-saving catch.
- After the game, Weiss said he gave no thought to bringing in regular closer John Axford, . Weiss expressed his faith that Betancourt could shut the door on the Dodgers. He was unable to.
- Betancourt, who sat in the dugout for a long time after the game, declined to talk to the media.
- The Rockies lost on a two-out, go-ahead grand slam for the first time since .
- The Dodgers won on a two-out, go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later for the first time since Sept. 24, 2006, when Nomar Garciapparra’s slam beat Arizona 5-1.
- And one final bit of irony: The last time the Rockies and Dodgers played a doubleheader at Coors Field was Sept. 18, 2007. Todd Helton hit a walk-off, two-run homer off Takashi Saito to beat the Dodgers 9-8 and sweep a doubleheader. Helton’s homer sparked Colorado’s “Rocktober” run to the World Series.
Tags: Alex Guerrero, Charlie Blackmon, John Axford, Rafael Betancourt, Walt Weiss
