DENVER -- The baseball gods can do many things, but one thing they can't do is hand both teams playing each other a loss in the same game. If they could, it would have happened Friday night at Coors Field, where the Diamondbacks and Rockies engaged in an affair that would have made made circus performers blush.
When fans, teams and broadcasters from other cities mock "LOL Coors Field," this is the game they are referring to, because it might as well have been played on the moon. Nothing that unfolded here was normal.
At four hours and 30 minutes, it now holds the title as the longest game in National League history (surpassed in the majors only by a Red Sox vs. Yankees match up from August 18, 2006). However, it wasn't just the length that made this game unique. It was packed with bizarre, almost unimaginable levels of inefficiency from both teams right from the start. Here are just a few special tidbits that made this one of the wildest chapters in the Coors Field record books:
- Combined, the teams used 16 different pitchers and threw 355 pitches (170 by the Rockies, 185 from the D-backs). Arizona used every single reliever in its bullpen.
- The Rockies had 26 (!!!) at-bats with runners in scoring position, but only four hits in that situation. They started the night 0-for-14 with RISP and combined with the D-backs to go 9-for-46. (Just stop for a moment and think about what has to occur for there to be 46 different at-bats with runners in scoring position in a nine-inning baseball game.)
- However, not all of those failures with RISP led to outs. There were also five errors in this game -- four by the D-Backs, and three from Jake Lamb alone. Two occurred on a single play in the sixth inning when DJ LeMahieu hit a ground ball that should have ended the inning. Instead, it plated two runs and gave the Rockies a 3-2 lead at the time. When Cristhian Adames grounded out with two men on to end the game, I half expected Jean Segura to throw the ball ten feet over Paul Goldschmidt's head. It would have been a more fitting conclusion to this game.
- Five different relievers had a WPA of -.289 or worse (Carlos Estevez, -.564; Randall Delgado, -.456; Boone Logan, -.354; Zack Godley, -.323; and Daniel Hudson, -.289) and seven different hitters had a WPA of .220 or better (Yasmany Tomas, .433; Nolan Arenado, .389; Michael Bourn, .375; DJ LeMahieu, .324; Paul Goldschmidt, .261; Carlos Gonzalez, .239; and Jake Lamb, .220). On a normal night, any of those figures makes you the player that had the most impact on the game, either positive or negative. But this was no normal night.
- The D-backs quietly stole six bases in this one. That continues a big problem for the Rockies so far this series; remember: Zack Greinke of all people stole a base on Thursday. One issue that may need to be addressed going forward with men on base is the pause in Tyler Anderson's delivery. It does wonders to throw off an opponent's timing at the plate (as evidenced by the eight strikeouts he collected in 5⅔ innings of work), but it seems to give baserunners an invitation to roam free like wild horses.
- Nick Hundley and Mark Reynolds each went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left a combined 15 (!!!) men on base. Oddly, both men also came within mere feet of being the hero as well. First Reynolds narrowly missed what would have been a three-run, walk-off homer as his towering blast down the left field line went just foul. Then, Hundley hit a fly ball to deep left moments later that was caught just below the yellow line against the wall by Rickie Weeks, preserving the game for the D-backs. (It's also worth noting that Rickie Weeks made that catch despite playing fewer than 40 career games in the outfield. He's spent almost his entire career [over 1,000 games] at second base.)
- The two teams combined to have 48 different plate appearances in high-leverage situations. Before last night, Rockies games in 2016 were averaging just under eight high-leverage plate appearances per contest.
- The two teams combined for 30 hits. Add it to the 28 they combined for on Thursday, and this series has already seen a combined 58 hits, and it's only half over. Mercy!
- The Rockies have scored 23 runs in their last three games, coming from four runs down on Wednesday to take the lead, three runs down Thursday to tie, and five runs down Friday to lead. However, they've lost all three of those games.
This game was so wild, Walt Weiss admitted afterwards that he couldn't even recall everything that happened.
"It's hard to remember it all really, but I do know we fought back once again and lost a tough one late," Weiss said. "There were a lot of big hits on both sides."
When asked why Arenado was running from third on the ground ball with nobody out in the ninth inning, Weiss protected his All-Star third baseman.
"We're going on contact there," he explained. "If it's a double play you've got one shot left. If you make them throw home, you still have two shots left. So that was the plan."
It's debatable whether Ahmed could have turned Reynolds' ground ball into a double play. It would have been a tough turn, but he's an outstanding defensive shortstop. Regardless of where the call came from, a runner with Arenado's speed taking off there is a decision to second guess. If the Rockies didn't lose the runner on third before Hundley's fly ball, that play becomes a sacrifice fly and the game goes to extra innings.
Afterwards, Hundley admitted he didn't see a home run off the bat.
"I didn't think I caught it quite flush," he said. "I was more hoping it would go out. We needed something good like that to happen."
Good things late in games have been hard to come by for the Rockies this year. They remain without a walk-off during the 2016 season, and have now lost three consecutive games in the ninth inning. However, Estevez -- after blowing his third save in seven opportunities -- still has the backing of his manager and teammates.
"I know [Weiss] still has confidence in me and I still have confidence in myself," he said. "Yesterday they had weak contact, today they hit the ball better. Segura hit the slider on the first pitch, Bourn hit the fastball down and away. Some days it's like that, you know? They just hit the ball well. That happens."
Estevez has the right attitude when it comes to his struggles over the last two games, and Hundley has the right attitude looking ahead.
"These guys are resilient," Hundley noted. "We're resilient in here. You don't play in a park like this and not be able to be resilient because the ebbs and flows of the game are a lot higher here."
Resiliency will be key if the Rockies want to salvage the series. They're back at it Saturday afternoon at 2:10 p.m. MT as the struggling Shelby Miller takes on Jorge De La Rosa.