Colorado Rockies’ Seven-Run Ninth Inning Rally Ends Season On High Note

Oct 4, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder C. Gonzalez (5) rounds second base on after hitting a triple against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants met Sunday afternoon at AT&T Park for the final game in the 2015 Major League season.

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After getting just two hits in the first eight innings, and entering the ninth inning having been retired in 17 straight at-bats, the Colorado Rockies exploded for seven runs in the ninth inning and won 7-3 in the final game of the season on Sunday afternoon.

A Matt Duffy single in the bottom of the first inning off Rockies’ starter Christian Bergman made the game 1-0 early in favor of San Francisco. The Giants would then almost immediately add a second run in the bottom of that inning, on an RBI single from Buster Posey — the fourth single in the frame off Bergman.

To his credit, Bergman settled down and threw two scoreless innings after that, but he only lasted three total frames on this final day of the season, as the Rockies opted to go for a bullpen game on Sunday afternoon.

Bergman went 3 innings, giving up six hits and a walk while allowing those two runs, before ceding his spot to Yohan Flande. Flande, in his first game back since taking a comebacker line drive off his knee almost two weeks ago, threw two scoreless innings to finish his year on a positive note.

Gonzalez Germen came on in the sixth inning for Colorado and allowed three hits, including a Jackson Williams RBI single, to make it 3-0 San Francisco.

The story for Colorado early in the game was the complete inability to get anything going against Giants’ starter Matt Cain or the bullpen. At one point, San Francisco retired 17 straight Rockies going into the ninth inning, before Rafael Ynoa hit a single with one out in the final frame to break up the batters retired streak, and then Nolan Arenado followed it up with his own single.

Then, when Corey Dickerson followed that up with a three-run home run that tied the game — and Ben Paulsen followed it with yet another single — things started to get interesting for Colorado.

Seven consecutive base runners later — all with one out, and which included another two-run single by Justin Morneau — the Rockies found themselves heading into the bottom of the ninth inning leading 7-3 after exploding for a seven-run top of the inning.

John Axford made things interesting in the ninth inning, when he allowed a hit and two walks to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, bringing Matt Duffy to the plate as the tying run with just one out, and Buster Posey on deck.

Axford struck out Duffy, to bring Posey to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. On the first pitch, Posey grounded out to end the game, and the season. What a game!

With that, the Colorado Rockies’ season is over. They finish in last place in the National League West, with a 68-94 record. See everybody next year!

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