Blackmon’s late game heroics (again) lead Rockies to third straight win

The Colorado Rockies looked doomed in this one.

They didn’t getting a quality outing from their starter and blew some great chances with runners in scoring position but an outburst at the last possible moment saw them take the game and the series from the Atlanta Braves.

Jon Gray had a rough game, nibbling too much around the edges of the strike zone at times and throwing too many meaty first pitches at others.

The Braves started the solo home run parade in the first when Freddie Freeman went down to golf a fastball at his knees and drive it over the wall in right center field for his fourth round-tripper of the season.

Nolan Arenado answered with his sixth dinger on the year, ripping one to left to tie it up.

Ender Inciarte kept it going in the next half-frame, taking one to almost the same spot as Freeman did in the first, putting the Braves back on top.

The scoring haulted for a moment in the third when Colorado went down in order and Gray worked around a single and a walk.

But Daniel Murphy joined the party in the fourth, launching the fourth home run of the game, the third over the right-center field wall, the second for the Rockies, and his first of the year.

Arenado followed with a double but David Dahl and Ryan McMahon could not cash him in.

Gray found himself in another jam in the bottom of the fourth after issuing a pair of one-out walks. Additionally, Gray’s pitch count had risen to 70. But the Braves decided to let the pitcher swing away and he promptly lined into an inning-ending double play.

He was unable to dance out of danger in the fifth though. Ozzie Albies and Johan Camargo ambushed the first two pitches they saw for a double and infield single to put runners at the corners. Gray got Freeman to strike out but fell victim to another first-pitch hit on a blipping single to left for Ronald Acuna, giving the Braves a two-run advantage.

Nick Markakis followed that with a line drive into the right-field corner for an RBI double to make it a 5-2. Gray’s night was done after a Dansby Swanson lineout to right.

Mike Dunn came on to get Brian McCann to pop up and leave Markakis at third.

The Rockies went quietly on four pitches with the heart of the order in their sixth but came to life with the young guys in the seventh.

Dahl got things  going by hitting a triple off the top of the centerfield wall, just barely missing a home run. He jogged home on a groundball single up the middle from McMahon. Raimel Tapia then really kicked things into gear by slicing a double to left past a diving Acuna.

Tony Wolters pulled the Rockies to within a run with a productive ground out to second for the first out in the inning. But with Tapia at third, pinch-hitter Mark Reynolds hit a hard line drive right at the shortstop. Charlie Blackmon ground out, also to deep short, to strand the potential tying run at third.

Two quick, well-pitched innings from Bryan Shaw gave the Rockies a chance to complete the comeback.

Dahl led off against lefty reliever A.J. Minter by going upstairs to get a high fastball, again just missing a homer to center, settling for a double.

McMahon was unable to advance him, freezing on a perfectly placed fastball low and away but Minter threw one in the dirt that allowed Dahl to get to third.

Tapia got ahead 2-0 but offered at two outside fastballs to even the count. He laid off one that almost hit him to run it full but swing through another fastball low and away but in the zone for a strikeout at the worst time.

Pinch-hitter Ian Desmond drew a walk, laying off a close 3-2 pitch, and surprisingly, Minter walked light-hitting Drew Butera on four pitches to load the bases for Blackmon, Colorado still clinging to their final out.

Blackmon gave the Braves a dose of their own medicine, hacking at the first pitch and lining it over Freeman’s head for a two-run double that swung the score in the Rockies favor at 6-5.

Atlanta went to the righty and former Rockie farmhand Dan Winkler to face Story and he hung a breaking ball that the shortstop hit into orbit, giving a team that looked dead in the water just a few at-bats before a 9-5 lead.

Wade Davis closed it out without much drama in the bottom of the ninth for the improbable win.

The Rockies have now won four series in a row and 10 of their last 12 games.