Another 4-Tums save for Huston Street. Gadzooks! With tonight's win 4-3 at Progressive Park over the Cleveland Injuns, the Colorado Rockies are now 5-1 in one-run games in June. A far cry from their futility in May, where they were 1-10 in contests decided by one run.
Colorado starter, Jhoulys Chacin, deserved a better fate than a no-decision. He had crafted a no-hit, no-run game through the first 5 innings, even though he had walked 6 Indians. The fifth walk, to Indian SS Asdrubal Cabrera, to lead off the 6th inning, bit him in the arse. He followed the walk to Cabrera with another to DH Travis Hafner. RF Sin Soo Choo broke up the no-no with a single to center that plated Cabrera, when the slow-footed Hafner unexplicably headed toward third base as Rockies centerfielder Carlos "The Cannon" Gonzalez fielded Choo's single and easily threw him out with an accurate bullet to 3B Ty Wigginton. It was CarGo's 6th outfield assist this year, and runners have to respect his strong and accurate left arm, or pay the price.
The Rockies had started the scoring in the fifth inning on the strength of a CarGo two-out double and an RBI single from Jonathan Herrera, who had gotten the start at second base. Jonny was erased as he attempted to steal as the Indians called a pitchout with Todd Helton at bat. The sixth inning featured another two-out double, this time from DH Jason Giambi, his second double of the game. RF Seth Smith fouled off a few pitches from Cleveland right handed starter, Mitch Talbot, then guessed a slider inside, and it found the fat part of Smith's bat, and KaBoom, into the right field stands for a two-run bomb, his 7th of the year. 3-0 Rockies, before the single run given up by Chacin in the aforementioned 6th inning.
Chacin got the first two outs in the 7th, then gave up a triple to C Lou Marson. Colorado manager, Jim Tracy, had seen enough, with Jhoulys having thrown 115 pitches. In came left-handed reliever, Matt Reynolds to face left-handed batter, and Indian leadoff batter, CF Michael Brantley. Reynolds retired Brantley on a harmless fly to left, inning over, Rox still up 3-2.
Now, Jim Tracy went to his usual 8th inning specialist, Rafael Betancourt, who had begun, and spent the first 7 years of his Major League career as a Cleveland Indian, making 371 appearances and pitching 410 innings. This was not his best night. Leadoff single to 2B Cord Phelps, single to Asdrubal Cabrera, single to Travis Hafner, scoring Phelps. Three batters, three hits, one run, no outs. Out went Betancourt, in came RHP Matt Belisle. Adam Everett came in to pinch run for Hafner (slow foot), which came back to haunt Indian manager Manny Acta later in the game, as Everett now became the designated hitter in Hafner's place. Belisle got Sin Soo Choo (isn't that a fun name to say out loud?) to line out to center, 1b Carlos Santana (on loan from the nearby Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame) scorched a liner that found the (gold) glove of Todd Helton for the second out. LF Travis Buck was up next, and as soon as the announcers (Drew Goodman and Jeff Huson) mentioned Buck's oh-for-24 slump, he singled to drive in Cabrera, to tie the game, and snuff out the win for Chacin. Belisle got 3B Jack Hannahan to line out to Carlos Gonzalez in center to end the 8th inning, tied at 3-3.
As I mentioned previously, the Rockies organization had invited the players' dads to accompany the team on this road trip and the ROOT TV broadcast duo of Goodman and Huson invited one of the fathers, Garry Smith, to join them for a couple of innings. He was very complimentary of the Rockies organization and we came away with a sense that the entire Rockie family is really that: close-knit, appreciative and genuinely glad to be part of the clan. (No, Tyrell, clan, not klan).
Anyway, it was quite propitious that Garry's son, Seth, came up in the top of the ninth inning and clobbered his second home run of the game to put the Rox up 4-3. Cleveland's closer, Chris Perez, had accummulated 17 saves and had not allowed a single home run all year, until Smith's 8th of the season. Maybe we should have a different father spend a couple innings in the broadcast booth the rest of this road trip. Just sayin'.
With the Rockies up by a run in the ninth, it was time for Huston Street to come in and, uh, shut the door. Sometimes he slams the door, sometimes he closes it on his fingers. Grady Sizemore (who almost homered off Street the night before) pinch hit for Lou Marson and grounded out. Michael Brantley flied out to fairly deep centerfield. Two outs, nobody on. Then, of course, it got interesting. Cord Phelps (what the fuck kind of a baseball name is that?) poked a shallow hit toward right, Seth Smith made an ill-advised dive for the ball and it skipped past his glove, toward the wall for a triple. Street walked Asdrubal Cabrera. Meeting on the mount, I mean mound, with the brain trust, pitching coach Bob Apodaca. Nobody warming up in the bullpen, CRAP! Due up, cleanup hitter Travis Hafner, wait, pinch runner and punch-and-judy hitter Adam Everett. Well, manager Acta calls on Austin Kearns to pinch hit. Kearns spent the first 7 weeks of the season on the DL, and had only 86 at-bats (none pinch hitting) with 31 strikeouts and a batting average of .209. It was a little tense as Cabrera stole second, so a single loses the game for Street and the Rockies. But, it wasn't to be. Street earned his 22nd save as Kearns struck out on a half-swing at a classic Huston power pitch: his changeup.
The Rockies escaped with the win, guaranteeing a series win, and going for the sweep tomorrow night. Cleveland closer Chris Perez (2-3) was saddled with the loss. Matt Belisle was charged with a blown save (his fourth), and gets the win to up his record to 5-2. The Rockies won another one-run game, collecting 11 hits, but leaving 14 runners on base. Luckily, Cleveland, beneficiary of 7 walks and 7 hits, also left 14 runners stranded.
Hey, the Giants are losing right now to Minnesota, 8-1 in the 8th, so the Rockies could very well be just 2 games back of the Diamondbacks and Giants. It's lookin' better than it did a couple weeks ago. That's what's great about baseball, the ebb and flow of the games, inning to inning, and the pennant chase, series to series, week to week. The symmetry and the unpredictability, the strategy and the second-guessing, and all those statistics. Gawd, I love baseball!
No comments:
Post a Comment