Walk-off home run by Blackmon propels win streak to five

DENVER – Charlie Blackmon waited until his 82nd at bat of the season to hit his first home run of the season and his timing couldn’t have been any better.

Down 3-2 in the 12th inning with two outs and two strikes, the man known as Chuck Nasty added his second walk-off home run to his already impressive resumé on a memorable night that extended the Rockies winning streak to five games.

Starting pitcher German Márquez didn’t have his best stuff on Friday night, but he kept his team in the game while the offense caught up. And even then, it wouldn’t be until the final out and final pitch of the game.

It began when Philadelphia stole a run right out of the gate with a trio of singles in the first inning against Márquez.

Andrew McCutchen hit a leadoff liner to right and after a Scott Kingery lineout, fortune swung the Phillies way when a grounder from Bryce Harper skipped past Trevor Story. A soft liner by Rhys Hoskins barely avoided Nolan Arenado’s outstretched glove to score the first run of the game.

Philadelphia would hit four more singles between the second and fourth innings, paired with two walks from Márquez, but the score would stay 1-0.

In the fifth, Harper would add his third straight single of the night before Hoskins would add a single of his own moving Harper to third base. A sacrifice fly by J.T. Realmuto scored Harper giving the Phils a two-run lead.

Though Marquez would give up another single in the fifth – his tenth of the game – the damage was already done as his pitch count had already reached 95.

The Rockies offense produced one-out doubles from David Dahl in the first and third innings and Ian Desmond in the fourth.

In the sixth, the Rockies’ offense began to synchronize starting  with a Trevor Story no-doubt home run that traveled 459 ft to reach the left field concourse and the solo homer brought the Rockies closer, 2-1.

Ian Desmond roped a single into left center and tried to stretch it into extra bases. Though Desmond was called out at second base, the play was reviewed and revealed a tag to the body after Desmond had touched the bag; the call was overturned and the inning continued.

Garrett Hampson slapped a broken bat double to left field sending Desmond home for the tying run.

All the while, the bullpen chipped in with scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh from Bryan Shaw and Mike Dunn, even with runners reaching scoring position against each reliever.

The offense went quiet through innings seven, eight and nine against Adam Morgan, former Rockies reliever Pat Neshek and Héctor Neris, respectively.

Seunghwan Oh and Wade Davis tag teamed the eighth and ninth for Colorado, each allowing a single in their frame of work.

Harrison Musgrave had a dicey inning in the eleventh, loading the bases following a leadoff double by Harper, but got out of the jam unscathed to give the bullpen six scoreless innings of work.

Chad Bettis came on for the twelfth and gave up a two-out single to Phil Gosselin, who entered in the fourth after Scott Kingery exited due to hamstring tightness; Harper followed with another extra inning double, scoring Gosselin to break the 2-2 tie.

Tony Wolters drew a one-out walk and Blackmon did the rest on the 1-2 offering from another former Rockies reliever, Juan Nicasio.

When the ball touched down 444 ft from whence he stood, Blackmon had himself his third walk-off RBI and one soaked jersey drenched from a wild celebration at home plate.

Stats

Blackmon: 2-5, HR (1), BB, 2 RBI, R

Dahl: 2-5, 2 doubles

Story: 1-5, HR (5), RBI, R

Desmond: 2-5, 2 doubles, R

Hampson: 1-5, double, RBI

Wolters: 0-3, 2 BB, 1 R

Márquez: 5 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Shaw: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K

Dunn: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K

Oh: 1 IP, 2 K

Davis: 1 IP, 1 H

Oberg: 1 IP, 1 H

Musgrave: 1 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 1 K

Bettis (W): 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 K