All of the natural, uncontrollable elements of a baseball game were working in full force against the Colorado Rockies on Friday afternoon against the Chicago Cubs. In one of the most bizarre games in recent memory, the Rox battled the umpire both on the mound and at the plate, some rare defensive miscues, and some pesky defending champs who seemed to draw out every at-bat as though their lives depended on it. There were even ducks on the field. This game was literally an odd duck.
The end result was the most hard-fought, grinding win of the season by a score of 5-3.
In the first inning, home plate umpire Dan Bellino put made a series of horrible calls that immediately put German Marquez behind the eight ball:
This ump is in RARE form early pic.twitter.com/hrwwICRie1
— Adam Peterson (@playerTBNL) June 9, 2017
Marquez had earned the strikeout against Anthony Rizzo who was instead awarded first base. The inning should have been over. Then, he should have been well ahead of Ben Zobrist, dramatically changing the odds of that at-bat with two missed calls, but both men reached leading directly to two runs on a single from Jason Heyward and a rare error by Charlie Blackmon.
It was the first error the Rockies had committed since May 30th, a streak of over 70 innings. They would make two costly ones in this game.
The Rockies got those runs right back, though, on an almost equally as unlikely a series of events. A single from Ian Desmond (nothing too weird about that) led to Ryan Hanigan hitting a game-tying, two-run home run on a hanging slider. Weird.
Hanigan hasn’t done much with the bat this year, but he has managed to drive in some clutch runs that have affected the outcomes of several games. Averages are one thing, but delivering when it counts still matters to wins and both the players who scored on that home run have found themselves on the negative side of the former but the positive side of the latter.
Despite the fact that an elevated pitch count (no thanks to the inconsistent zone) chased Marquez from the game after just three innings, the third might have been the finest pitched by him all season. In fact, it might have been the most remarkable inning of pitching in a season chalk full of them for the 2017 Rockies.
Dubious calls all over the place led to walks to Rizzo and Kris Bryant and then Heyward was awarded first base on catcher’s interference. So, without having pitched poorly at all, Marquez was looking at a bases-loaded, one out situation. But he dialed up some of the best stuff we’ve seen from this kid yet, pumping in some 98 and 99 mph fastballs to Javier Beaz to get the much-needed strikeout.
Realizing his day was likely over already as he approached 80 pitches (where he would eventually land) Marquez left it all on the mound to finish off Miguel Montero with a flyout. After giving up two tough-luck runs in the first (more attributable to bad umpiring and a defensive mistake than himself) and getting squeezed through the next two innings, Marquez never showed signs of breaking down mentally. He kept his composure, bore down, and got the job done with everything working against him, keeping his team in the game. It was as impressive a three-inning, two-run (one earned) outing as you are ever likely to see.
In the fifth, Blackmon, who is quickly staking his claim to being the best player in the National League, launched — and I do mean launched — his 14th home run of the season to put the Rockies on top 4-2.
Charlie Blackmon goes golfing pic.twitter.com/geymVdHQvi
— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) June 9, 2017
The blast also put him back into second place in MLB in RBI, passing teammate Mark Reynolds, now with 52. He leads the league in hits and triples and is second in runs scored.
The Cubs pulled to within one on some of that pesky offense we were talking about earlier against Chris Rusin in the fifth. Even then, the run didn’t come home on a hit but a fielder’s choice after a walk (with yet another questionable call) to Bryant and a single to Rizzo.
At this point, the game had the feel for anyone who has long watched Rockies baseball, of one that was going to get away. Still staked to a one-run lead, Colorado was hanging on by a thread.
But after Rusin did his job (for the most part) Mike Dunn and Scott Oberg shut the Cubs down in the sixth and seventh.
Then Colorado got an insurance run, perhaps giving some balance to the force because they manufactured a run with speed, something they’ve been awful at this season. Pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia was plunked by a pitch and made Chicago pay for it by swiping second easily and moving to third on a wild throw. With two outs, Nolan Arenado strode to the plate. The Rockies would have wished it no other way.
Arenado did what he does and took a slider right off the dirt and lined it into left field, scoring Tapia and putting the Rockies up 5-3.
Adam Ottavino made his return to the mound in the eighth and (of course) immediately hit Heyward. But (also of course) threw some wiffleball pitches to get a pair of strikeouts and a soft groundout to strand him at first base.
Greg Holland, because no one was immune to the struggles of the day, showed an unusual bout with his own command, walking Ian Happ on four pitches and then Bryant after getting ahead 0-2. And with no funny business, he was missing the zone by quite a bit.
Holland then walked Rizzo — again with an iffy call from Bellino — bringing Ben Zobrist to the plate who popped out to shallow left, leaving a bases-loaded, two out situation for Heyward, who already had two RBI in the game.
The first pitch to Heyward was another missed call from Bellino but as was the trademark of the day, Holland bore down, threw a nasty slider to punch him out and earn his 23rd save in 23 opportunities.
The Cubs did not record a hit after the first inning. The Rockies issued nine walks in the game.
Colorado moved to 40-23, 23-10 on the road, and are 17 games above .500 since October 4, 2009. It also matches their highest mark of the 2007 season. They are the first team in the National League to reach 40 wins and are riding a season-high six game win streak. With a split as the worst case scenario now, the Rockies remain unbeaten in road series’.
These are the games you are “supposed” to lose in a 162 game season. Instead … it was the biggest win of the season.
