This was a fun win.
The Rockies rallied back from a 4-0 deficit with a clutch homer and triple from Ryan McMahon and a great night from Raimel Tapia. After a discouraging start, Chi Chi González posted four scoreless innings to get through the sixth and then was backed by a great night from the bullpen. Carlos Estévez, Mychal Givens, and Daniel Bard combined for three drama-free scoreless innings, only surrendering one walk and one hit. That’s two in a row for the Rockies.
McMahon adds to All-Star case
The only thing missing from a cycle was a double, but McMahon made those other three hits and a sac fly count. He got the first Rockies hit of the game against Yu Darvish in the second inning. He then got the Rockies on the board when he hit a triple in the fourth to drive in Trevor Story, who led off the inning with a double. The triple was McMahon’s first of the season and ended 17 straight innings of Darvish domination where he hadn’t allowed an unearned run to the Rockies.
Vote @Ry_McMahon to the #AllStarGame now!#Rockies pic.twitter.com/P1XTETLrHB
— AT&T SportsNet™ | RM (@ATTSportsNetRM) June 16, 2021
Brendan Rodgers followed with an RBI single, which helped set the table for McMahon to tie the game in the sixth. With Story on first, McMahon connected for his 16th homer of the season, which put him at fourth-most in the NL. It’s worth a look in the black-and-white themed Rockies Twitter the social media team adopted on Tuesday.
Take a good look YU won't see it for long! pic.twitter.com/ImxSyCmIWX
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 16, 2021
That dinger knocked Darvish out of the game, continuing his lack of success at Coors Field. He finished his night giving up four earned runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts after five innings and not being able to record an out in the sixth. Luckily for the Rockies, the very talented San Diego bullpen couldn’t stop the Rockies either.
McMahon added a sac fly in the seventh to put the Rockies up 6-4. His efforts were rewarded with the MVP chain after the game, only the second time he’s earned the honor.
Pinch-hitting spark
Garrett Hampson came into pinch hit to lead off the seventh with a stand-up triple that he made look so easy. Raimel Tapia followed with a double down the third base line to not only put the Rockies up 5-4, but also extend Tapia’s hitting streak to 12 games. Yonathan Daza followed with a sneaky base hit bunt and then Story walked to load the bases. The Rockies only managed one more run with McMahon’s sac fly, but Hampson was definitely the go-ahead catalyst in a role where the Rockies have struggled to reach base as Purple Row’s Skyler Timmins wrote about on Sunday.
Double double
In the eighth inning, Tapia and Daza hit back-to-back RBI doubles to stretch the Rockies lead to 8-4. In Tapia’s 12-game hitting streak, he has now hit 10 doubles for a total of 14 on the season. Speaking of streaks, Charlie Blackmon’s 13-game hitting streak came to an end on Tuesday when he went 0-for-4 with a walk.
Rough beginning, but Chi Chi delivers another solid start
With temperatures hovering just under 100 at first pitch, the theory was this would be a high-homer game. Through the top of the first, that seemed true. Manny Machado got the Padres started with a two-out double off the center field wall before Fernando Tatis Jr. crushed his 20th homer of the season, which flew 431 feet to right field to put San Diego up 2-0. In the top of the second, the Padres increased their lead to 4-0 with a three-hit inning, including an RBI single from Darvish.
González then found his rhythm with a three-up, three-down inning in the third, aided by a great play by Trevor Story.
TREV⚫️R ST⚪️RY AT IT AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/fSBA4vfgGu
— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) June 16, 2021
That was near the beginning of eight straight batters sent down by González before he hit Darvish with a pitch and walked Trent Grisham in the fifth, but he came out unscathed. He only allowed one hit after the second inning, which was a single by Eric Hosmer, who then got picked off trying to steal second. When González was replaced by Estévez in the seventh, he left the game giving up four runs on six hits with two strikeouts. He also registered 13 called strikes with his four-seam fastball.
Up next
The Rockies and Padres will wrap up their three-game series with a very hot 1:10 p.m. game on Wednesday. The pitching matchup will feature Kyle Freeland (0-2, 9.00) against Blake Snell (2-3, 4.97).