For the first five innings, the two highest-scoring teams in the National League had themselves a good, old-fashioned pitcher’s duel. What followed was a bizarre and dramatic finish to the first game of a pivotal series for the Colorado Rockies.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, down 6-5, Nick Hundley hit a one-out single off Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman to give the Rockies hope in what was a see-saw game from the sixth inning on.
The chaos erupted when Ryan Raburn hit a double off the right field wall to score Hundley and tie the game. An errant throw by second baseman Jose Baez scored Rayburn to win the game, 7-6.
Wild night. Wild #walkoff.https://t.co/50vPygoFOZ
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 20, 2016
Postgame, manager Walt Weiss praised his team’s resilience, not only in this game, but this season.
WATCH: Walt Weiss on the Rockies' dramatic win over the Cubs. pic.twitter.com/nQWuYhgX9Y
— Mile High Sports (@MileHighSports) August 20, 2016
The Rockies entered the three-game series with the best team in baseball 6.5 games back in the Wild Card following a series win over NL East-leading Washington earlier in the week. They have now won three of their last four games over the top two teams in the National League.
Former Rockies outfielder Dexter Fowler only had two hits on the night, but they might have been the most important of Chicago’s 12 hits in the game: His home run to lead off the game and his RBI single in the 11th inning to give the Cubs the late lead.
After the Cubs tried to pull their best Usain Bolt impression, pulling away in the middle third of the game, the Rockies battled back to tie it in the eighth inning on a Nolan Arenado sacrifice fly that required video replay to decide.
The Rockies rallied from down 5-2 in the eighth when Cristhian Adames led off with a single and David Dahl walked. D.J. LeMahieu hit an RBI double down the left field line that scored Adames and might have scored Dahl were it not for fan interference. Carlos Gonzalez grounded out to score Dahl and set up the Arenado sac fly. On an extremely shallow ball to left field, LeMahieu raced for home and just beat the throw from Matt Szczur, sliding under the tag by Willson Contrares.
Boone Logan saved the Rockies bacon in the top of the tenth after Jordan Lyles walked the leadoff batter. Lyles forced a groundout before Logan struck out Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell. Logan made it even more interesting by allowing a base hit in-between the strikeouts.
A pair of pitchers making their Major League debuts for the Cubs played huge roles in the outcome.
Felix Pena showed veteran mettle in his first big league appearance, retiring the Rockies in order in the ninth inning with the score tied and striking out two.
Rob Zastryzny loaded the bases in the ninth on two singles and a walk, but escaped the 10th inning unscathed.
A Rockies rookie, Matt Carasiti – in just his fourth appearance – didn’t fare so well, surrendering the go-ahead run, but was gifted his first big league win. Weiss was praiseworthy of his rookie, postgame however, lauding his ability to get a tough out in Kris Bryant to end the inning and limit the damage.
Chicago dealt what felt at the time like a decisive blow in the top of the sixth inning when rookie Addison Russell connected for a two-run home run off Rockies starter Tyler Anderson to give the Cubs a 5-1 lead. Until that point Anderson had kept the Rockies within shouting distance, striking out seven Cubs in five innings and surrendering just three runs. He would end with eight strikeouts on the night, tying a career high.
Kyle Hendricks stymied the Rockies in his six innings, surrendering one run on four hits.
Colorado scratched back in the seventh inning, scoring a run off a throwing error by Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant, before their big eighth inning.
The pitching performances should come as no surprise, as Hendricks entered the game ranked second in the National League with a 2.22 ERA and Rockies Anderson sported eight quality starts in 13 trips to the mound. By time he left the game, Hendricks’ ERA had dropped to 2.16.
Hendricks and Anderson traded early mulligans, each allowing leadoff home runs in the first inning. Hendricks surrendered his to Dahl who was hitting leadoff in place of Charlie Blackmon who was a late scratch with a big toe contusion. Dahl’s home run came in his first leadoff at-bat in big leagues.
A leadoff base hit by Hendricks burned Anderson in the top of the third when Anthony Rizzo singled with two outs to score the Cubs pitcher and put the visitors on top.
Anderson surrendered a leadoff walk to Javier Baez in the fifth, his only free pass of the game. A sac bunt and a stolen base moved Baez to third with one out. Anderson forced Fowler to ground out to Nolan Arenado, stalling Baez, but a Kris Bryant looper over the head of Daniel Descalso gave the Cubs a two-run lead. Anderson limited the damage by picking off Bryant before throwing another pitch.
Tyler Anderson returned the basehit favor on Hendricks in the bottom of the fifth, but then had the pickoff favor returned when Contreras caught him napping.
Filed in the “statistical oddities archive,” Dahl became the first person other than Blackmon to hit a leadoff home run for the Rockies since none other than Fowler (June 2, 2013 vs. the Dodgers).
Rockies fans were deprived of the chance to see Gerardo Parra make his first major league start at first base when Blackmon was scratched. The decision moved Parra back to the outfield and put Ben Paulsen in at first. The lineup change was made after a two hour and ten minute rain delay.
The series continues Saturday night at 6:10 p.m. Jeff Hoffman will make his major league debut in place of the injured Tyler Chatwood.