Charlie Blackmon walks off on the champs

DENVER – Charlie Blackmon hit a 435-foot shot that broke a 2-2 tie against the reigning World Series Champions Houston Astros in the bottom of the ninth, giving the Colorado Rockies a 3-2 walk-off victory.

Leading up to Blackmon’s first career walk-off homer, the game was a whirlwind of odd events played beneath ominous skies.

The Rockies got on the board in the bottom of the second thanks to Carlos Gonzalez’ 12th home run of the season, a solo shot over the high wall in right. He turned on a center-cut, 97-mph, two-seam fastball and deposited it into the Rockies bullpen.

It was CarGo’s 1,279th career base hit, pushing him past legendary Rockies outfielder Dante Bichette for third place all-time.

Houston’s pitchers did well to pitch out of jams on numerous occasions whenever Colorado threatened.

After the CarGo homer, Trevor Story followed up with a single and Garrett Hampson would later walk in the inning, but both base runners were squandered: Story was caught stealing and Hampson was picked off.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, Charlie Blackmon was hit by an 82-mph curveball on his left foot. Ian Desmond slapped a broken bat dribbler into short right field for a single, extending his hit streak to eleven games.