You could almost hear the Deadheads muttering, “Man, what a long, strange trip it’s been.”
And that was only in the fifth inning when the Rockies scored four runs to cut the Pirates’ lead to 15-10.
By the end of the 3-hour, 37-minute scoreathon on Grateful Dead Night at Coors Field, the Rockies scored five runs in the ninth to win 17-16. They walked it off on Brenton Doyle’s dramatic two-run homer off Dennis Santana.
Doyle, who’s struggled through a subpar season, hit Sanchez’s hanging 0-1 slider 406 feet to left field. Doyle knew he got it the moment he hit it. It was the first walk-off homer of his career.
Has the center fielder ever been part of a game as wild as that one?
“No, never,” he said after launching his eighth homer. “Getting down 9-0 in the first is tough to come back from. We kept the energy high the whole time. What a game. I just wanted to give a good at-bat and keep passing the baton. I got a ball up and I put a good swing on it.”
Manager Warren Schaeffer has participated in his share of nutty games, especially when he managed at Triple-A Albuquerque, but he never experienced anything like Friday night.
“That’s that’s got to be the most incredible game I’ve ever been involved in, hands down, with all the stuff that went into that,” he said. “Down nine to nothing in the first inning, without us even picking up a bat, then crawling our way back into the game … amazing.”
The Rockies never stopped truckin’ at the plate.
They rapped out 22 hits, including a memorable night for shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, who celebrated his 24th birthday by blasting out a 4-for-6 performance that included an MLB record-tying four doubles and two RBIs. He became the first player to hit four doubles on his birthday.
Rookie first baseman Warming Bernabel had a 4-for-6 night, sweetened by a three-run homer in the third inning and an RBI double in the critical ninth. In six games since making his major league debut last Saturday, Bernabel has hit .435 (11 for 24) with three home runs and seven RBIs.
And rookie Yanquiel Fernandez mashed a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth, the first homer of his career.
“Yanquiel, I’m really happy for him,” Schaeffer said. “He’s been playing well in the big leagues. And to get us closer tonight, with that homer, it was huge.”
Fernandez’s blast to right cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 16-12, and Hunter Goodman’s one-out solo homer in the ninth made it 16-13.
The LoDo madness began in the first inning when the Pirates sent 14 men to the plate and scored 10 runs on nine hits. Included in the onslaught was a 451-foot grand slam by center fielder Oneil Cruz off hapless Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela, who was gone after just two-thirds of an inning.
Senzatela, charged with seven runs on eight hits and two walks, has been a disaster waiting to happen in the first inning this season. He has an 11.76 ERA, 2.42 WHIP, and a .442 batting average against. The Rockies used an “opener” ahead of Senzatela earlier this season.
Schaeffer said the team will talk about Senzatela’s role going forward.
“We’ll see,” he said. “We’re gonna have discussions about what’s going on with him. You know, I know this isn’t an excuse, but I know he had some sort of blister going on tonight. There was something physical going on there.
“But you’re right, the first-inning struggles are real for him, and we need to find solutions. And I think he’ll be the first one to tell you that we need to find solutions, whatever they might look like. We’re constantly talking about it behind closed doors and looking for those solutions.”
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Rookie lefty Carson Palmquist, called up from Triple-A before Friday’s game, didn’t fare much better. He served up a three-run homer to Andrew McCutchen before finally ending the Pirates’ first inning. Palmquist walked five in 2 1/3 innings.
The Pirates pounded right-hander Angel Chivilli four runs on five hits over two innings. It was left to veteran right-hander Jimmy Herget to finally put a stop to the madness.
Right-hander Darnell Dugan made his major league debut in the eighth and pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out one. He picked up the victory.
In addition to giving up 18 hits to Pittsburgh, Colorado pitchers issued nine walks, and Herget hit Joey Bart with the bases full in the sixth to force in a run.
“It’s something that we address a lot,” Schaeffer said of the walks. “You just have to attack. I mean, that’s the thing about Coors Field. If you walk guys, you’re gonna you’re gonna get crushed. That’s just the way it is.
“Because the balls drop in the outfield (because) it’s so huge. Free base runners are a recipe for disaster in this yard. Well, anywhere, really, but it’s exacerbated here at Coors Field.”
Wild Night in LoDo
The Rockies’ 17-16 victory over the Pirates Friday night at Coors Field was filled with milestones, records, and crazy numbers:
• It was the third time in franchise history the Rockies erased a nine-run deficit to win the game. The other times were Aug. 25, 2010, vs. Atlanta (Colorado won 12-10 after being down nine), and July 4, 2008, vs. Florida (won 18-17 after trailing by nine).
• It was the second time in franchise history that the Rockies won a game in which they gave up 16 or more runs. The other was the July 4, 2008, game vs. the Marlins
• Brenton Doyle (4 for 5, a double, a homer) hit the first walk-off home run of his career and notched his third walk-off RBI.
• Warming Bernabel (4 for 6, a triple, a homer, and four RBIs) homered for the third time this season. He’s one of three Rockies all-time to homer at least three times in their first six career games, joining Trevor Story (2016, seven times) and Tom Murphy (2015, three times).
• Ezequiel Tovar (4 for 6) hit a career-high four doubles, becoming the player in franchise history to record four doubles in a game (also: Jeff Baker, May 30, 2008, at the Chicago Cubs).
• Friday marked the first time in the modern era that the Pirates scored 16 runs in a game and lost. They are now 77-1 in games in which they scored 16 or more runs.
• Pirates catcher Joey Bart recorded a career-high four walks. He reached base five times (four walks, a hit by pitch) without recording a hit, the third Pirates player all-time to do so. (Also Gus Suhr in 1930 and Max West in 1948).
Sources: Colorado Rockies, Elias Sports Bureau
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Source:: News Denver – Denver Post
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