LeMahieu wills Rockies to comeback win in San Fran

David John LeMahieu was just not going to let his team lose this one.

Looking at a 3-2 count with a runner at first down by one, having already given his team the lead twice earlier in the game—seemingly out of sheer will—he smashed a screaming line drive to left for a two-run home run, his eighth of the season, seven coming out on the road. Those were his fourth and fifth RBI in the game, a masterful performance to power the Colorado Rockies to a 9-8 victory over the San Francisco Giants in one of the wildest games of the season.

The Rockies took the lead in the first on a solo home run off the bat of Nolan Arenado who has become a kind of first-inning-home-run artist.

The lead didn’t last long, however, as the Giants swung the score in their favor in just two batters in the bottom of the second. Gray left fastballs up for Alen Hanson, who doubles, and Brandon Belt who homered into the bay to give San Francisco a 2-1 lead.

But Colorado came storming back with a big fourth inning. It began with Carlos Gonzalez ripping a double to right field and moving up to third on a Trevor Story single to center. Gerardo Parra knocked in Gonzalez on a single through the hole on the right side and Ian Desmond made it four consecutive hits, delivering the big shot by lining one into the gap appropriately nicknamed “Triples Alley” for a three-bagger.

With the infield pulled in, a Tony Wolters groundball failed to score Desmond and Gray struck out looking, but DJ LeMahieu came through with a two-out single back up the middle to cash in on the triple and give the Rockies a 5-2 advantage.

That advantage was immediately squandered.

As has often been the case this season, Gray seemed to lose his focus for a moment, leading to a dreadful inning. He began the fourth by walking Andrew McCutchen. He then got away with a poorly located fastball to Brandon Crawford to lined out to right but didn’t get away with another one, giving up a single to Pablo Sandoval.

After a mound visit from manager Bud Black, Gray walked Nick Hundley to load the bases then surrendered an opposite-field double to Joe Panik that scored a pair, pulling the Giants to within one. Gorkys Hernandez followed with a game-tying single just past a diving attempt from Story at shortstop.

With a pair of runners still aboard and Chris Rusin rapidly warming up in the bullpen, it seemed Gray was at the end of his rope, but he settled down and struck out Hunter Pence and Hanson to end the frame with the game tied at five runs apiece.

Rusin stayed on for the sixth and worked a 1-2-3 inning.

The Rockies backed him up by mounting a rally in the top of the seventh. Chris Iannetta, pinch-hitting for Wolters, lined a single to center and moved up to third on a second-straight pinch-hit, a double off the bat of Noel Cuevas.

LeMahieu came to the plate in another clutch situation and did what he does best once again, taking a measured approach and hitting a hard groundball up the middle to score two and put the Rockies back on top at 7-5.

Colorado gave one back in as unlikely a fashion as you are going to see. Hanson reached on a fielding error by Arenad0 (not a typo) on a groundball that just went right between his legs. Jake McGee got Belt but McCutchen would make the Rockies pay for the error with a groundball double just inside the third-base bag to make it 7-6.

McGee struck out Crawford and got Sandoval to fly out to center, stranding the tying run at second base.

In an odd half-inning, both Story and Parra reached on singles but were thrown out at second base by Nick Hundley who had only successfully done that three other times all year.

Those missed opportunities held extra sting when everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Adam Ottavino in the eighth.

It began with a bloop single by Joe Panik. Then, for the second time in three games, Otto issued a walk to Hernandez after a pitch that was clearly in the strike zone—and should have been strike three—was called a ball. Naturally, that was followed up by a second bloop single, this one from pinch-hitter Buster Posey who lofted one to left that Parra seemed to settle near then lose in the sun.

With the bases loaded and one out, the Rockies were still clinging to the lead and brought the infield in just a bit. That backfired when Hanson bounced a double just inside the first-base bag, scoring a pair of runs to give the Giants an 8-7 lead. Had Desmond been playing in a normal position, that would likely have been an inning-ending-lead-saving double play.

Otto then intentionally walked Belt before striking out McCutchen and getting Crawford to ground out to first, but the damage had been done.

But the Rockies would not go away.

Chris Iannetta set the stage for LeMahieu’s dramatics and Wade Davis, who had been knocked around in his last few appearances, secured a mercifully quick save with a 1-2-3 inning to salvage a game in the series for Colorado.

This is the first game in 2018 that the Rockies won after trailing going into the final frame.

Final Stats:

Jon Gray: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

Chris Rusin: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Jake McGee: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Adam Ottavino: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Wade Davis: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 K (S: 22)

DJ LeMahieu: 3-for-4, 1 R, 5 RBI, (HR: 8)

Trevor Story: 3-for-4, 1 R  

Nolan Arenado: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI, HR (19)

Chris Iannetta: 2-for-2, 1 R

Gerardo Parra: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

Carlos Gonzalez: 1-for-4, 1 R

What’s Next:

The Rockies are off to Los Angeles for a three-game set with the Dodgers.