On Charlie Blackmon bobblehead night, the bearded wonder led the Rockies to a wild 6-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Coors Field on Friday. Fittingly, he scored on a wild pitch in the ninth.
Blackmon bunted for a one-out single off reliever Ryan Mattheus and stole second base. He originally was ruled out, but the play was overturned via replay. Blackmon moved to third base on DJ LeMahieu’s groundout to second, then scored when Mattheus uncorked a wild pitch with Troy Tulowitzki at the plate.
Colorado appeared to have won the game in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Ben Paulsen to score Nolan Arenado, who had tripled. But Reds first baseman Joey Votto tied the game 5-5 in the ninth with a solo homer off closer John Axford. Votto’s homer barely sneaked over the left-field fence.
Carlos Gonzalez delivered two big home runs for the Rockies, who rallied three times to win for just the second time since the all-star break.
WATCH:
With scores of big-league scouts looking on, the trade deadline looming and a festive crowd of 37,184 looking on, CarGo tied the game in the sixth and again the eighth with solo homers to right field. It was his first multihomer game of the season.
“It’s fun to play baseball when the ball comes off the bat this season,” Gonzalez said. “I know I tell you guys this a lot, but I knew that time was going to give me the player that I am. Of course, I’m healthy and things are going the way I expected them to. I couldn’t be more happy than I am right now, because I feel like I’m giving this team a chance to win.”
It was a crazy night for Rockies starter Eddie Butler. The rookie pitched impressively for five of his six innings, got the first hit of his big-league career and had a double stumble on the basepaths that will live on in blooper videos.
Butler’s first trip on the major-league bases ended with not one but two pratfalls in a two-run Colorado fifth that cut Cincinnati’s lead to 3-2. Butler reached first on a one-out bunt and advanced to second on Blackmon’s single to center. Next, LeMahieu clanged a drive off the manual scoreboard in right. Butler should have scored easily, but he apparently waited to tag up. Then, with Blackmon hot on his heels, Butler slipped as he rounded third base, got back to his feet, then fell again as he ran toward home. He was easily tagged out by catcher Tucker Barnhart, short-circuiting what could have been a big inning.
“I made a mistake from the get-go,” Butler said. “I should have been bouncing off the bag instead of going back to tag up. After that, I just tried to scramble around to score and I tripped going around third. I tried to get up, but my mind was going 100 mph, and my legs went out from under me and I did a face plant the second time.”
The Rockies tied the game 3-3 in the sixth on a leadoff solo homer by CarGo off Reds starter Anthony DeScalafani. CarGo roped the first pitch into the right-field seats for his 15th homer. DeScalafani held the Rockies hitless until Corey Dickerson, back from an extended stint on the disabled list, led off the fifth with a single and scored on Nick Hundley’s triple.
Butler was in total command for the first three innings, allowing no runs on one hit. He got five groundball outs, including a double play to short to end the third inning. Things changed dramatically in the fourth. Leadoff hitter Brandon Phillips drilled a 3-0 pitch to center and Butler started nibbling and falling behind in counts. Todd Frazier drove in Phillips with a ground-rule double to left, Butler walked Marlon Byrd and Ivan De Jesus hit a two-run double to dead center to put Cincinnati in front 3-0.
LeMahieu’s single in the fifth extended his hitting streak to 14 games, tying his career high.
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or
