Rockies clinch Wild Card spot with victory over Nats

DENVER – When the St. Louis Cardinals lost early on Friday afternoon, the Colorado Rockies knew they were just one win away from clinching their first-ever back-to-back postseason appearances.

Behind the hometown hero, the script was written for them, they merely had to rise to the occasion in front of a sellout crowd at Coors Field.

Getting the ball in the most important game of his life, Kyle Freeland didn’t have his best stuff but battled all night, mostly working around the eye-popping 11 hits he gave up to surrender just a pair of earned runs over six innings.

The Denver native finished his season with a 2.85 ERA, lowest full-season ERA in Rockies history. His 2.40 ERA at home is lowest in franchise history. He also became the first pitcher in the organization to throw at least 200 innings since Ubaldo Jimenez did it in 2010.

Yet another quality start was backed up by a four-homer night for the offense in a 5-2 win that sends the Rockies back to the postseason, clinching the second National League Wild Card spot.

Freeland worked out of a jam in the second after three singles loaded the bases with one out. But he was able to get the opposing pitcher, Joe Ross, to hit a weak comebacker to the mound. Freeland used his well-known athleticism to pounce off the mound an initiate a perfect, inning-and-rally-ending double play.

The Rockies got a dose of that medicine when their own potential rally was snuffed out in the bottom of the second. Nolan Arenado led off with a double and Trevor Story drew a walk, but a flyball from Carlos Gonzalez was only able to advance the lead runner and Ian Desmond hit one back to the mound for another double play to end a frame.

There was more trouble in the third when a pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases for the Nationals again. But Freeland managed to work out of that with big strikeouts of Anthony Rendon and Mark Reynolds.

The Rockies then took the lead in the top of the fourth on a solo home run from Charlie Blackmon, his 28th round-tripper of the season.

But the Nationals came right back and were finally able to make Freeland pay for all the traffic, though he almost wriggled out of it again. Singles from Adrian Sanchez and Spencer Kieboom were answered by another big pair of strikeouts but, with one strike left to get, Trea Turner lined a triple into the right-center field gap to plate both runners and give the Nationals a 2-1 lead. Freeland got Bryce Harper to fly out to left to avoid any further damage.

That lead didn’t last long, though.

The Rockies struck back in the bottom of the fifth. Gonzalez got some good fortune on an infield, broken-bat single but Desmond needed no such luck when he unloaded on a high fastball and launched it over the high fence in right-center field to swing the score in favor of his team at 3-2. It was Desmond’s 22nd home run of the season.

Chris Iannetta followed with a smash shot of his own, going to the deepest part of the park in left center for his 11th home run of the season to give Colorado a two-run lead.

An inning later, David Dahl joined the home run party that he started five days ago by smashing his fifth home run in five games, joining Nolan Arenado, Larry Walker, and Dante Bichette as the only players in Rockies’ history to do that.

Scott Oberg, Adam Ottavino, and Wade Davis shut the Nationals down in the final innings to finish off the win.

Colorado improved to 90-70. With the win, they guarantee at least the second Wild Card spot in the National League, clinching their first every back-to-back postseason appearance.

Final Stats:

Kyle Freeland: 6 IP, 11 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

Harrison Musgrave: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Scott Oberg: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

Adam Ottavino: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Wade Davis: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Ian Desmond: 1-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI (HR: 22)

Chris Iannetta: 2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI (HR: 11)

Charlie Blackmon: 1-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI (HR: 28)

David Dahl: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI

Carlos Gonzalez: 2-for-3, 1 R

What’s Next:

There is still a division to play for! The Rockies will send Jon Gray to the mound in a big matchup against Stephen Strasburg in the second game of the set. First pitch at 6:10 Mountain Time.