Murphy's clutch homer extends the Rockies winning streak to seven

It had been a running theme even in the early stages of the 2018 season, when almost no transactions were made: If the Colorado Rockies were going to get to the postseason, they are going to need at least 35 of the men on the 40-man roster to help them get there.

The “I-25ers” as we’ve come to call them, will be just as important as the veterans.

We saw it on Friday when Raimel Tapia delivered the decisive blow with a grand slam, his first home run of the season. We saw if before Saturday’s game when Garrett Hampson was added to the 40-man roster.

And we saw it again when Tom Murphy joined Tapia in the home run, and clutch, columns with an eighth-inning blast that secured a 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It was an absolute screamer on a hanging breaking ball, reminding everyone that he has the rawest power of anyone in the organization. It was the second consecutive huge moment for a Rockies youngster, giving the club their seventh consecutive win, and their sixth consecutive series win.

Neither team mounted a true scoring threat until Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado walked in the top of the fourth but D-Backs starter Zack Godley managed to strike out Carlos Gonzalez and Trevor Story to avoid any damage.

The missed opportunity immediately came back to haunt Colorado when Arizona found their first rally in the bottom of the frame, and managed to cash it in. Like for the Rockies, it began with some wildness as Freeland plunked Ketel Marte, then walked Paul Goldschmidt and A.J. Pollock to load the bases with nobody out. Steven Souza Jr. came through with a single to center, but it only scored one.

Freeland looked like he got exactly what he needed when Nick Ahmed popped up into foul territory down the first baseline. Ian Desmond made a nice over-the-shoulder running catch and Goldschmidt decided to test his arm. The throw was on line and possibly in time but Chris Iannetta was positioned up the line a bit and Goldschmidt employed a creative and athletic slide to score the second run, narrowly avoiding running into a double play.

Chris Owings kept it going with another line drive single to center, scoring a third run before Freeland could record a pair of fly outs to finally get out of the inning.

Colorado immediately answered.

Desmond ripped a triple to center and came in on the first hit in the MLB career of Garrett Hampson, making the start at second for the injured DJ LeMahieu. He waited back on a curveball—a pitch that had been trouble for the Rockies all night—and hit a liner off the base of the wall in left for a double. A moment he will always remember.

After Iannetta grounded out and Freeland struck out, it looked like Colorado might have to settle for the one run but Blackmon drove in Hampson with a ground rule double to left, pulling the Rockies to within one.

They had a chance to tie it, especially when Gerardo Parra walked to bring Nolan Arenado to the plate. But Arenado uncharacteristically struck out in the high-leverage situation.

Like on Friday night, though, the Diamondbacks countered the Rockies counter by scoring again in the fifth. The constant pest, Marte, walked and advanced on a Goldschmidt single, scoring on a groundball hit from Souza that glanced off of Nolan Arenado’s glove at third.

Then began the countering of the countered counter.

Gonzalez reached on a botched throw from Godley on a slow roller back toward the mound and moved up to third on a Trevor Story line-drive single to right. Desmond kept his bat hot with a single through the right side, scoring Gonzalez and moving Story—the tying run—to third.

Godley apparently wanted no part of the rookie Hampson, walking him on four pitches that weren’t particularly close, to load the bases. With the three fastest Rockies aboard, Godley uncorked a wild pitch allowing everyone to advance, including that tying run.

Still with nobody out and runners at second and third, Colorado looked primed to take the lead but Iannetta couldn’t get his fly ball to left deep enough and pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia lined into a tough-luck double play back to the mound to end the inning in frustrating fashion for the visitors.

Jake McGee worked the sixth, walking Daniel Descalso with two outs but otherwise working a clean inning.

The Rockies took the lead for the first time in the top of the seventh thanks to a one-out walk from Parra, his second of the game, and a two-out clutch double from Gonzalez.

The Diamondbacks weren’t going away that easily, though. Scott Oberg came on in the all-important bridge role that he has managed to take over with a string of solid appearances and got Marte on a weak groundout and struck out Goldschmidt. But he issued a two-out walk to Pollock, and in these games, those always come back to bite.

Souza and Ahmed delivered a pair of seeing-eye singles on well-located pitches to score a run and tie the game up. Again.

Adam Ottavino was much sharper than in the first game back, striking out John Ryan Murphy and David Peralta before getting some help on a sterling diving stop and throw from the debuting Hampson.

Wade Davis, returning after he was unavailable on Friday with food poisoning, came on for the save attempt and was, naturally, greeted by a bloop single off the bat of Marte. He bounced back to strike out Goldschmidt looking for the third time in the game and got Pollock to hit a grounder to short, but Hampson was unable to make a relay throw, settling for one out.

Davis then lost a battle to Souza, getting up 1-2 but ultimately walking him to put the tying run in scoring position for Ahmed. But for the second straight night, the man asked to close for Colorado got a called strikeout to end it.

Colorado improved to 53-45, leapfrogged these Diamondbacks for second place in the NL West and are now just one game back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place after their loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Final Stats:

Kyle Freeland: 5 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K

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

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

Adam Ottavino: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K (H, 21)

Wade Davis: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K (S, 28)

Tom Murphy: 1-for-1, 1 R, 1 RBI (HR, 1)

Ian Desmond: 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI

Garrett Hampson: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI

Trevor Story: 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 BB

Gerardo Parra: 0-for-2, 1 R, 2 BB

Carlos Gonzalez: 1-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI

Charlie Blackmon: 1-for-4, 1 RBI

What’s Next:

The Rockies aim for the sweep on Sunday. Antonio Senzatela faces off against Zack Greinke. First pitch at 2:10 Mountain Time.