Whew! That was a game the Rockies needed to win. It’s hard to put too much significance on any one game in a long baseball season. But for a team that has postseason aspirations and is still clawing its way to .500 more than 50 games into the season, you really want to make sure you win a home series against the worst team in baseball. The Rockies were able to do that with a 8-7 win against the Orioles on Sunday. They just had to wait until the ninth inning to clinch it.
Tony...no bags?
The Rockies were trailing by a run headed into the bottom of the ninth inning, and they were able to score two runs to win the game despite just logging one hit. Nolan Arenado singled with one out, and he made his way all the way home after the Orioles bullpen issued three consecutive walks. That tied the game. Then, Tony Wolters hit a sacrifice fly to left field, which drove in pinch runner Jeff Hoffman to seal the series win.
Nolan Arenado stays hot
Arenado hit another home run, his 15th of the season. He’s hitting over .400 during May and has nine home runs against 13 strikeouts for the month. Nolan did strike out a couple of times, but that just served as a reminder that he’s currently sporting the lowest K-rate of his career, 10.7%. It won’t always be this good, but more and more it feels like we’re seeing Nolan reach a new peak.
Bullpen woes
The Rockies and Orioles were locked in a tight 1-1 game headed into the bottom of the sixth. The Rockies scored four in the inning, capped off by a German Márquez two-run triple. It felt like they’d blow the game wide open. But the Orioles scored three runs on five singles in the top of the seventh, which pushed Márquez out of the game and left it to the bullpen to hold on to the small lead.
Up two in the eighth, the Orioles scored three runs against Bryan Shaw and Scott Oberg. Shaw was responsible for most of the mess, but Oberg gave up the big two-run triple to Trey Mancini that gave the Orioles the lead. It almost cost the Rockies the game.
A forgettable day for Trevor Story
Trevor struck out five times in five plate appearances on Sunday. That, they say, is called a platinum sombrero. That’s just the third time in franchise history that’s happened in a nine inning game. Carlos González struck out five times against Pittsburgh in 2014, and DJ LeMahieu had a platinum sombrero against the Mariners in 2015.
Up next
The Rockies an afternoon Memorial Day game tomorrow. They’ll host the Diamondbacks for the first of their four game series that will give them the chance to gain some ground against a division rival. Jon Gray starts against Zack Greinke, and first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 MT.