Colorado Rallies Over San Diego in 13th for Wild Card Berth Vs Phillies
|
|
|
|
|
Padres closer Trevor Hoffman has a history of choking in the clutch. With a playoff berth on the line, he did so once again in the 13th inning as the Colorado Rockies charged back from an 8-6 deficit to defeat San Diego by a 9-8 score and land the wild card berth in the first round of the National League playoffs against the Phillies.
Padres’ starter Jake Peavy was erratic and ineffective during his 6 1/3 innings as built a 3-0 with two runs in the 1st inning and another in the 2nd inning.
Rockies’ starter Josh Fogg was similarly ineffective as the Padres quickly erased the deficit in the 3rd inning as Peavy led off with a single. After a walk, another single and a fly out, 1st baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who was big for the Padres all season with 29 homers, 96 RBIs and .280 BA, slammed to rightfield and the Padres went up 4-3. The Padres scored a 5th run in the inning on a fielder’s choice grounder.
AP reporter Arnie Stapleton picks up the game recap and the parade of 15 pitchers from here for Yahoo sports;
The Rockies came back to tie on [Todd] Helton’s 17th homer in the bottom half and [Matt] Holliday’s RBI single in the fifth off Peavy, who looked little like the Cy Young Award candidate he’s been this season.
September callup Seth Smith… tripled in the sixth and scored on [Kaz] Matsui’s shallow sacrifice fly to give Colorado a 6-5 lead.
Holliday… misplayed [Brian] Giles’ flyball into an RBI double off Brian Fuentes with the Rockies ahead by 6-5 in the eighth that scored Geoff Blum from second base with the tying run.
The Rockies and Padres were tied at 6 in the 163rd game of the season for each team, the first play-in game since the New York Mets beat Cincinnati 5-0 for the 1999 NL wild card.
In the bottom of the eighth, Holliday stranded the go-ahead run at second when he whiffed against Heath Bell, who relieved ineffective Padres ace Jake Peavy.
Manny Corpas went 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, and Bell sent the game into extra innings by retiring the side in the bottom half, stranding the potential winning run at first base.
After Scott Hairston’s two-run homer put the Padres ahead in the top of the 13th, Colorado came back against baseball’s career saves leader.
Kaz Matsui and Troy Tulowitzki, who had four hits, lined back-to-back doubles off Hoffman, making it 8-7, and Holliday tripled off the wall in right to tie it.
After Todd Helton was intentionally walked, [Jamey] Carroll lined out to right fielder Brian Giles.
Giles’ throw home bounced in front of catcher Michael Barrett, who couldn’t hold on as Holliday swiped the plate, then lay face-down after cutting his chin with his headfirst slide. Umpire Tim McClelland made a delayed safe call, and replays were inconclusive on whether Holliday touched the plate with his left hand or was blocked by Barrett’s left foot.
“I don’t know. He hit me pretty good,” Holliday said. “I got stepped on and banged my chin. I’m all right.”
Carroll entered the game as a pinch-runner in the seventh inning and stayed in to play third base. He got one hit before finding himself in position to hit the sacrifice fly that won it.
“I was just trying to get a ball up in the zone,” Carroll said. “Had a guy at third. Matty did a great job. Matty ran his butt off. I am so happy that we get this opportunity to go on.”
The Rockies, who won for the 14th time in 15 games, took the longest one-game tiebreaker in major league history. They advanced to play Philadelphia in the first round starting Wednesday.
Hoffman (4-5), who has 524 career saves, blew his seventh chance in 49 tries. On Saturday, he was one strike away from clinching a playoff spot when Tony Gwynn Jr. hit a tying triple for Milwaukee, which went on to win 4-3 in 11 innings.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on this game, click here.
Wednesday marks the opening playoff games as Colorado comes to Philadelphia for games one and two. In a battle of lefthanders,
Jeff Francis (17-9) opposes Phillies ace Cole Hamels (15-5). On Thursday, Mark Redman opposes Kyle Lohse.
For the scores, boxscores and recaps on all of Wednesday’s playoff games, click here.
del.icio.us |
digg |
Furl |
Reddit |
YahooMyWeb |