Tapia slams Diamondbacks, Rockies rally to win sixth straight

Raimel Tapia has had difficulty sticking at the MLB level. There have been questions about his defensive utility and baserunning—a general concern that he may be a bit too costly in the finer details of the game—to be given a permanent spot.

But there has never been any question that the kid can hit.

After a back and forth affair saw his club down 8-7 but rallying, this bases-loaded opportunity against a divisional rival in the first game out of the break was one of the highest-leverage moments of the season.

Striding to the plate for his seventh pinch-hit appearance of the season, the most recent of which featured a clutch single, he found himself quickly in an 0-2 hole against Colorado Rockies nemesis Archie Bradley.

Staying calm and patient, working the count back to 2-2, Tapia dropped the hammer on a low fastball and hit a screaming line drive into the right-field bleachers for a grand slam.

It was his first homer of the season. It was the third pinch-hit home run for the Rockies this season. It was the second grand slam for the Rockies this season. Bradley had given up just 10 earned runs all season and had given up just one hit to a lefty since the end of May. The inning added an entire run to his ERA which is now at 3.11.

But more than any of that, Tapia’s slam was the exclamation point on an inning the Rockies came into down by three and left up by three in an eventual 11-10 win.

Starter German Marquez was not sharp, battling with command of his fastball all game despite having an excellent breaking ball that allowed him to battle through five innings, giving up six runs, five earned.

The Rockies took an early lead in the first on Nolan Arenado’s 11th first-inning home run of the season. Following a Charlie Blackmon single, it put Colorado on top 2-0 for a remarkably short-lived advantage.

The Diamondbacks used some great patience and well-worked at-bats, and found just the right space with a series of groundballs, to load the bases with two outs against Marquez in the bottom of the first. One pitch away from escaping trouble, Marquez threw a fastball that caught too much of the plate and Ketel Marte made him pay for it with a groundball single up the middle that tied the game.

Things went from bad to worse in the ensuing at-bat when Marquez threw a fantastic breaking pitch that was swung on and missed, but catcher Tony Wolters whiffed on the baseball behind the plate, allowing the go-ahead run to score on the passed ball.

Arizona kept after the Rockies young pitcher in the bottom of the third thanks to a one-out single from A.J. Pollock, a free pass for Steven Souza Jr. Marquez second ill-timed walk also came back to bite him when Jake Lamb singled on yet another groundball that found space, scoring Pollock and moving Souza to third making it easy for the latter to score on a groundout from Marte. And just like that, without having collected an extra-base hit, the Diamondbacks took a 5-2 lead.

The Rockies were able to answer back in the fourth, though they almost blew the opportunity. Ian Desmond led off with a double down the left-field line. But Noel Cuevas popped out on the infield and Tony Wolters lined out to left, leaving it up to Marquez to cash in the run. Somehow, he kept his bat hot, tossing out his second consecutive single to score Desmond from second.

That run looked huge two batters into the top of the fifth. Once again, Blackmon singled and once again—for the second time in three at-bats—Nolan Arenado crushed a two-run home run. His 25th of the season, and one of very few opposite field blasts for Arenado, tied the game back up at five runs apiece.

But Colorado’s positive momentum was again a fleeting moment lost in the desert wind.

Marquez couldn’t manage to hold the line, surrendering a leadoff single to Pollock, another grounder that was just far enough away from Arenado that even he couldn’t throw out the speedy outfielder.

Another on-the-margins play went for Arizona when Pollock’s steal of second, wherein he was initially ruled out, got overturned after a replay review. That really hurt after back-to-back strikeouts when Marte struck again with a triple into the gap in left-center field, swinging the game back in favor of the Diamondbacks, 6-5.

Things really started to look dire for the visitors in the bottom of the sixth where Chris Rusin’s first-half struggles showed up again in the place where it all began for him this season. After striking out Alex Avila, Chris Owings lined a single to left and was able to advance on a wild pitch. Owings then stole third with Rusin paying little attention and scored on a single from David Peralta. Bud Black went to Scott Oberg who impressively struck out Paul Goldschmidt but surrendered a double to Pollock, scoring Peralta all the way from first.

Arizona was suddenly in command with an 8-5 lead. That is, until the dramatics, and Tapia heroics, of the seventh.

Blackmon led things off with a walk to reach base for the third time in the game and reached third on Arenado’s third hit, and first single, of the game. Bradley struck out Trevor Story with some filthy fastball but Carlos Gonzalez got him on a sharp liner to left that scored Arenado. Desmond fell victim to the same fate as Story but Gerardo Parra, pinch-hitting for Noel Cuevas, drew a walk to load the bases.

For the third time this season, Wolters drew a clutch, bases-loaded walk, setting the stage for Tapia.

That incredible inning was followed by a 1-2-3 frame from Bryan Shaw who struck out a pair and got the benefit of a review that went the Rockies way, rewarding an excellent spin throw by Story.

Shaw stayed on for the eighth and struck out another pair before Peralta doubled down the right-field line. Black went to Adam Ottavino to face Goldschmidt and in another strange occurrence behind the plate, Chris Iannetta—who had just entered the game—couldn’t knock down a slider and then couldn’t find the baseball, allowing Peralta to score all the way from second.

Ottavino then walked Goldschmidt and gave up a single that made Pollock 5-for-5 in the game but got a pop-up on the infield from Souza to strand the tying runs and escape the inning clinging to an 11-9 lead.

With closer Wade Davis unavailable due to illness, Otto stayed on for the ninth, and things got tense immediately. He got Lamb to chop one (sorry) off the plate but unleashed a wild throw to first, allowing him to reach base. Marte followed with his third hit of the game, a single to left-center, putting runners at first and third with nobody out.

Ottavino threw one of his better sequences, keeping everything away from Nick Ahmed to get a vital pop-up on the infield that kept the runners where they were. But he allowed Marte to swipe second, taking a double play out of order.

He then threw a pitch that caught too much of the zone to Alex Avila but was bailed out on a game-saving diving catch by Blackmon in center. A run still scored on the sac fly, and the tying run advance to third, just 90 feet away but Ottavino got pinch-hitter Jon Jay looking to end the game and allow Rockies fans to take a giant sigh of relief.

Had the Diamondbacks completed their comeback, it would have been one of the worst losses of the season, instead it proved to be one of the better wins.

Colorado improves to 52-45, have won six in a row, 14 of their last 17, and have a chance to win their sixth straight series with another victory in either of their next two contests. They are two games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the NL West, and now just a half-game back of these Diamondbacks for second.

Final Stats:

German Marquez: 5 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

Chris Rusin: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 BB 1 K

Scott Oberg: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Bryan Shaw: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

Adam Ottavino: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

Raimel Tapia: 1-for-1, 1 R, 4 RBI, HR (1)

Nolan Arenado: 3-for-5, 3 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR (25)

Charlie Blackmon: 2-for-4, 3 R, 1 BB

Carlos Gonzalez: 2-for-5, 1 R, 1 RBI

German Marquez: 2-for-2 (.361), 1 RBI 

What’s Next:

The Rockies hope to keep the momentum going in Game 2. Kyle Freeland faces off against Zack Godley. First pitch at 6:10 Mountain Time.