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Rockies survive late inning-thriller as Wolters walks off against Orioles

Aniello Piro

May 26, 2019; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies catcher Tony Wolters (14) hits a walk off sacrifice fly RBI in the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies defeated the Baltimore Orioles in walk-off fashion at Coors Field Sunday afternoon, 8-7.

The Rockies had a two-run lead over the Orioles entering the latter part of the game, but poor pitching and situational hitting ultimately led to Baltimore establishing a late lead.

The Rockies managed to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth inning, scoring the tying run after Ian Desmond worked a clutch walk.

With the game tied at seven, Tony Wolters came to the plate and hit a high fly ball on the first pitch of his at-bat to bring home pinch-runner, Jeff Hoffman.

Ahead are takeaways from the victory.

Marquez does it all 

Rockies’ starting pitcher German Marquez dazzled both on the mound and at the plate in Colorado’s win.

Things started off a little dicey for Marquez as he allowed a leadoff single to Jonathan Villar. Despite escaping the inning unscathed, the Orioles’ bats stayed in attack mode.

Marquez made quick work of Rio Ruiz to start the second inning before issuing a walk to Hanser Alberto. Broxton, who was recently acquired by Baltimore, then poked a single to right field to provide the Orioles with runners in scoring position.

Austin Wynns proceded to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Marquez fielded the ball cleanly but made a sloppy throw home that forced catcher Tony Wolters to move his position. Alberto, charging home, dove past Wolters while missing home plate in the process. From there it was a race to plate with Alberto managing to sneak his hand past Wolters’ glove to score the first run of the ballgame:

Marquez then buckled down to limit the damage while settling into the game.

Overall, Marquez finished the day with a line of 6.1 innings pitched and four runs on seven hits while striking out four batters.

Despite a solid pitching performance, Marquez’ biggest impact was at the plate.

The Rockies entered the sixth inning down 3-1. With two runners on base, manager Bud Black opted to let Marquez hit as opposed to summoning a pinch hitter, a decision that proved to be worthwhile.

Marquez worked a 2-2 count then proceeded to crank a ball out of the strike zone to deep right field that bounced off the wall for an easy two-run triple:

Marquez, who won a Silver Slugger Award in 2018, extended his hitting streak to four games and is hitting .234 (31-for-132) since 2016 which leads all Major League pitchers.

Marquez’ nine RBI are tied for the fourth-most by a pitcher in a single season in franchise history, the most since Jason Jennings recorded 11 RBI’s in 2002.

Arenado stays hot at the dish

Nolan Arenado’s offensive brilliance continued against Baltimore.

Entering the ballgame, Arenado was hitting .422 (35-for-83) with seven doubles, eight home runs and 21 RBI in May. The 27-year-old All-Star leads the National League in batting average and is tied for the lead in hits so far this month.

Arenado followed up his five-RBI performance from Saturday night by hitting a timely go-ahead two-run home run to deep left field to break a 1-1 tie and push the Rockies ahead in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The home run was the 201st of his career, tying Rockies’ icon Dante Bichette for the fifth-most in franchise history.

Prior to hitting the home run, Arenado struck out twice, representing his first strikeouts in 35 at-bats which was good for the second-longest streak in the big leagues. Additionally, Arenado was averaging a strikeout every 10 at-bats which is the fifth-best rate in all of baseball.

Tapia continues to thrive as leadoff hitter 

Raimel Tapia has assumed the role of the Rockies leadoff hitter since Charlie Blackmon was sidelined with a calf injury at the tail end of the Rockies last road trip.

Since returning to Coors Field, Tapia has settled into a groove at the plate, earning hits in three consecutive games out of the leadoff position.

That trend continued in the Rockies victory as Tapia started the game with a leadoff single to right-center field.

Tapia has been a focal part of the Rockies outfield since the start of May, starting in 16 of the Rockies’ 21 games played in the month. Tapia is hitting .293 (34-for-116) and has hit safely in 21 of past 24 starts since April 16.

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