doesn’t display a lot of emotion on the baseball diamond. So it’s a big deal when he pumps his fist and claps his hands.
The all-star second baseman scooted an RBI single through the right side of the infield in the eighth inning Friday night to score and lift the Rockies to a 4-3 victory over Philadelphia. It was Colorado’s third one-run victory in its last four games at .
LeMahieu’s patented opposite-field hit, coming after the Phillies right-handed reliever Luis Garcia intentionally walked , tagged a happy ending on a difficult night that saw rookie left-hander with a strained left groin.
LeMahieu, the 2016 National League batting champion, said he didn’t feel slighted about the Phillies choosing to pitch to him rather than the dangerous, and left-handed hitting Blackmon. LeMahieu understood the game strategy. Still, he admitted, there was a lot of satisfaction in his game-winning hit.
“It feels good, for sure,” he said. “It wasn’t, like, disrespect to me or anything like that. But it feels good to do something like that after they walked (Blackmon) to get to me.”
Valaika, the pinch hitter, was once again a hero in a minor role. He drew a walk and then moved into scoring position by alertly taking second on a passed ball charged to Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp.
— who else? — tied the game 3-3 with a one-out homer in the seventh off Ricardo Pinto. The 433-foot blast was Arenado’s 25th of the season It was his major-league best 65th extra-base hit.
Closer Greg Holland notched his 34th save in 35 chances with a perfect ninth. It’s the most saves for the Rockies since Huston Street had 35 in 2009, the last time the Rockies made the playoffs.
The Rockies (63-47) remained a half-game behind Arizona (63-46) for the top wild-card spot in the National League, and still hold a 5-½ game lead over Milwaukee for the second wild card.
Colorado improved to 14-6 in one-run games this season, and that’s a significant statistic to manager Bud Black.
“At critical times we are making pitches and playing good defense,” Black said. “And I think Greg’s overall performance solidifies things at the end. … What it tells me is that, our guys, when it sort of gets hot or it gets tight, we’re OK.”
Freeland was facing Aaron Altherr, the third batter of the game, and had thrown only 11 pitches (10 for strikes) when he abruptly stopped pitching. Catcher Jonathan Lucroy immediately went out to the mound, as did manager Bud Black, assistant trainer Scott Gehert and pitching coach Steve Foster. After Freeland threw a practice pitch, it was quickly determined that he could not continue and he was replaced by .
Freeland, who appeared to be in some pain, motioned to his left groin while he talked to Black and Gehert. Later, Freeland could be seen limping in the Rockies’ dugout.
Black was cautious about discussing the severity of the injury or putting a timeline on how long Freeland might be out.
“Just hours after the trauma, we don’t know exactly how this is going to set up,” Black said. “But the next couple of days we’ll know the extent of this. When he comes in tomorrow or the next day, then and we’ll test the strength and see how he’s feeling. The imaging after the game showed no structural damage.
“So we’ll see. But a groin strain, like a calf strain or a hamstring, they are all sort of dicey.”
Freeland, a Denver native and graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School, is 11-7 with a 3.70 ERA. His 11 victories are the most among all major-league rookies this season. If he’s out for any length of time, it will throw a wrench into the Rockies’ starting rotation.
Rusin, the Rockies’ Swiss Army knife out of the pen, ran into big trouble in the second, giving up three consecutive singles to load the bases before whiffing Cameron Rupp, inducing Phillies starter Vince Velasquez to pop out to second and getting Cesar Hernandez to roll out to second. In 3 ⅓ innings, Rusin struck out five.
The Rockies used six starters total, and they were able to hold the game together.
The Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the first inning off the bat of Gonzales. Colorado loaded the bases with walks by Blackmon, and off Phillies starter Vince Velasquez. Then Gonzalez, who has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games, ripped a two-run single to right-center.
Philadelphia tied the game 2-2 in the sixth off Antonio Senzatela, who was told he would get the night off until Freeland was injured. Altherr led off with a single and scored on Nick Williams’ double to right center. Williams scored on Maikel Franco’s triple to right. He should have been held to a double, but Gonzalez whiffed on the bouncing ball, allowing Franco to reach third. Oberg relieved Senzatela and got pinch-hitter Hyun Soo Kim to groundout to end the rally.
Oberg, however, did give up a go-ahead run to the Phillies in the seventh on a double by Hernandez and an RBI single by Altherr.
Postgame Notes of Note
- The Rockies improved to 24-11 in series openers this season.
- Chris Rusin five strikeouts tied his career high as a reliever (also Sept. 21, 2016 vs. St. Louis)
- Nolan Arenado hit his 25th home run of the season in the seventh inning, tying him with Charlie Blackmon for the team lead.
- DJ LeMahieu’s go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning was his first go-ahead RBI in the eighth inning or later since Sept. 15, 2015 at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- Gerardo Parra went 1-for-2 and has now hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games. He’s batting batting .436 (24-for-55) with 10 runs, seven doubles, two home runs, 14 RBIs and five walks over that span.
- Phillies starter Vince Velasquez walked a career-high six batters.
- Maikel Franco recorded his first triple of the season to tie the game in the sixth inning.
