LoDo Magic appeared out of thin air on Monday night at Coors Field.
Jake McCarthy hit a bases-loaded triple down the left-field line off closer Aroldis Chapman to lift the Rockies to a wild, redemptive, 3-2 win over the Red Sox.
“I was just trying to put it into play,” said McCarthy, who connected on Chapman’s 99.6 mph sinker. “I wanted anything but a strikeout or a double play ball. I was just looking for a good pitch to hit.”
The Rockies connected on eight consecutive hits off Boston relievers Garrett Whitlock and Chapman over the last two innings to pull out the victory, although baserunning errors in the eighth appeared to have cost Colorado the game. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Colorado is the first team since at least 1961 — when the expansion era began — with eight hits in their final eight plate appearances of a game.
The winning rally began with rookie first baseman TJ Rumfield steering Chapman’s 0-2, 85.3 mph slider into left field. Then Hunter Goodman hit a solid single to left, and rookie Cole Carrigg put down a nifty bunt between the mound and third for a base hit to load the bases.
Then came McCarthy’s moment.
“That was surreal, and it obviously hasn’t sunk in,” McCarthy said. “Off a great pitcher like that … it all happened so fast. I just want to give credit to my teammates. You saw the inning before, it was like five straight line drives.”
Monday’s victory gave the Rockies their third walk-off win of the season, and it was just the third time in franchise history that the Rockies won a nine-inning game in walk-off fashion when they entered the ninth inning with no runs. Also, Colorado improved to 11-10 in one-run games after going 18-23 in one-run games during last year’s 119-loss season.
“That was incredible,” Schaeffer said. “Eight straight hits to end the ball game there against two world-class pitchers, Whitlock and Chapman. I mean, they don’t quit. We’ve been saying it all year. We fight till the end, and tonight we got rewarded for it. I mean, just hats off, hats off to all of them.”
Jake McCarthy clears the bases with a WALK-OFF TRIPLE 😱
— MLB (@MLB)
The ninth inning was pure redemption, because a Keystone Cops eighth inning was a baserunning disaster.
With one out and two men on, Edouard Julien was thrown out at plate trying to score on Willi Castro’s bloop single to centerfielder Ceddanne Rafaela. Julien got a green light from third base coach Andy Gonzalez, but Julien was thrown out by four steps.
Then Tyler Freeman singled to right. This time, Mickey Moniak got the stop sign at third from Gonzalez, but Castro motored past second base, got caught in no-man’s land and was easily thrown out.
Schaeffer was quick to defend Gonzalez. Asked if the third base coach should have held up Julien, Schaeffer said, “No, I’ll never say that. I coached third base in the big leagues for a couple years, and it’s an extremely hard job. I will never never say that. Rafaela made a perfect throw.”
Regarding Castro getting thrown out, Schaeffer said, “We just have to run with our heads up to see what’s going on.”
The wild ending came on the back of a tight pitcher’s duel.
Boston finally broke through against Rockies right-hander Ryan Feltner with two outs in the sixth. Wilyer Abreu reached on a low roller to third baseman Kyle Karros and Wilson Contreras ripped Feltner’s 2-2 fastball into the right-field corner to score Abreu. Feltner walked Jarren Darren, advancing Contreras to second, setting up Caleb Durbin’s run-scoring single to left.
Feltner rode a rollercoaster but pitched well enough for Colorado to win. He worked six innings, giving up two runs on four hits. He struck out two and walked four.
“I felt good, I was efficient and I felt like all of my stuff was working in the zone,” Feltner said. “I was not super-sharp in the beginning, but I was able to settle in.”
Feltner walked Mickey Gasper to open the game, but Gasper was erased on a double play. Then Feltner walked Abreu but got out of the inning unscathed when Contreras flew out to center fielder Cole Carrigg.
Colorado had no solution for Red Sox lefty Jake Bennett, who allowed just four hits (all singles), struck out nine and walked none. The Rockies’ mini-threat in the third was snuffed out by a diving catch in center by Rafaela. Karros hit a one-out single to left and Ezequiel Tovar followed with a dying line drive to center, but Rafaela made his catch for the second out. Castro lined out to center for the third out.
Pitching probables
Tuesday: Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.12, ERA) at Rockies LHP Sean Sullivan (0-1, 10.29), 6:40 p.m.
Wednesday: Red Sox LHP Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.93) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.36), 1:10 p.m.
TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM
