Colorado Rockies top moments tournament: Rocktober streak (part 2)

In the bottom of the fourth, Cory Sullivan led off the inning with a double. Two batters later, Matt Holliday singled to center to score Sullivan and to make it a 1-0 Rockies lead.

Between then and the bottom of the sixth inning, there were two walks and a double scattered for both teams. However, in the bottom of the sixth, Sullivan did the same exact thing as he did in the fourth: lead the inning off with a a double. Billingsley did not want to be burned by Matt Holliday two batters after Sullivan so he intentionally walked him. He would be Billingsley’s last batter, though, as he would be replaced by left-handed reliever Mark Hendrickson and he would face Todd Helton. On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Helton lashed a single into right field for a RBI that scored Sullivan to make it 2-0.

In the top of the seventh inning, Jeff Francis was still on the mound for the Rockies. Two batters into the inning, Olmedo Saenz, who was pinch-hitting for Rafael Furcal, hit a solo home run to cut the Rockies lead in half. After Juan Pierre struck out after Saenz’s home run, Francis was replaced by right-handed reliever LaTroy Hawkins. He gave up a double to Matt Kemp but Hawkins shut the Dodgers down to end the inning.

On the second pitch of the inning, Brad Hawpe laced a single to center field. That knocked Hendrickson out of the game as he was replaced by right-hander Scott Proctor. Yorvit Torrealba dropped down a bunt to get Hawpe to second.

Joe Koshansky came up as a pinch-hitter for Omar Quintanilla and he delivered with a double down the right field line to make it a 3-1 Rockies lead. All of this action between Hawpe, Torrealba, and Koshansky came on a combined six pitches.

That was the end of the scoring for both sides as in the eighth and ninth innings, both teams were retired 1-2-3. In the bottom of the ninth, Manny Corpas slammed the door and got the save on just nine pitches.

The winning pitcher was Jeff Francis. He improved his record to 16-8. He went 6 2/3 innings allowing six hits, one run, and three walks while punching out ten. The Rockies bullpen combined for 2 1/3 innings only allowing one hit, no runs, no walks, and one strikeout. The relievers combined for only 25 pitches.

Chad Billingsley was saddled with the loss. His record fell to 11-5. He went 5 1/3 innings allowing four hits, two runs, three walks, and six strikeouts.

The first game was very unorthodox for hitter-friendly Coors Field as the Rockies won 3-1 but in the second part of the day-night doubleheader, it was the classic Coors Field slugfest.

Dodgers manager Grady Little presented this lineup to home plate umpire Jim Reynolds for game 2.

1. Juan Pierre, CF
2. Tony Abreu, 2B
3. Matt Kemp, RF
4. Luis Gonzalez, LF
5. Nomar Garciaparra, 3B
6. James Loney, 1B
7. Ramon Martinez, SS
8. Mike Lieberthal, C
9. David Wells, SP

Clint Hurdle presented this lineup.

1. Jamey Carroll, 2B
2. Troy Tulowitzki, SS
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Todd Helton, 1B
5. Garrett Atkins, 3B
6. Ryan Spilborghs, CF
7. Jeff Baker, RF
8. Chris Iannetta, C
9. Mark Redman, SP

A Recap of the game

In the first inning of game two, both teams broke out offensively as there was more scoring in the first inning than there was in all of game one.

In the top of the first, Redman allowed a leadoff single to Pierre. Redman then balked which allowed Pierre to go to second. Abreu would single in Pierre two pitches later to make it a 1-0 Dodgers lead. Seven pitches and two batters later, Luis Gonzalez launched a two-run home run to right field to make it 3-0 Dodgers before the Rockies even came to bat.

However, in the bottom of the first, the Rockies tied the game back up. Carroll led off with a single and on the first pitch to Tulowitzki, he scored Carroll on a double to make it 3-1.

Two pitches later, Matt Holliday doubled to score Tulowitzki to make it a 3-2 game. Todd Helton got on base with a fielder’s choice that retired Holliday. Garrett Atkins singled to make it runners on second and first for Ryan Spilborghs.

On the first pitch to him, Spilborghs hit a ground-rule double to right center field to score Helton to make it a 3-3 game.

Nothing further came in the bottom of the first or by either team in the second inning.

Juan Pierre led the top of the third off with an infield single. Two batters later, Matt Kemp doubled in Pierre to make it a 4-3 Dodgers lead.

Until the bottom of the fifth, two singles and a walk were scattered between both sides but no scoring came about.

However, in the bottom of the fifth inning, Troy Tulowitzki hit a one-out double and two pitches later, Matt Holliday slugged a home run to make it a 5-4 Rockies lead.

That lead would not last long, though, as right-handed reliever, Matt Herges, who had just came on in relief of Redman, allowed a home run to James Loney on the third pitch of the inning to make it a 5-5 tie. After allowing a single to Ramon Martinez and a walk to Mike Lieberthal, Herges was yanked from the game in favor of lefty Jeremy Affeldt. After two flyouts, Tony Abreu hit the first pitch that he saw from Affeldt down the left field line for a triple that scored Martinez and Lieberthal to make it a 7-5 Dodgers lead.

No further scoring happened until the top of the eighth inning when Russell Martin, who came in as a defensive replacement for Lieberthal in the previous half inning, homered off Rockies reliever Jorge Julio, who was in his second inning of work, to make it a 8-5 Dodgers game.

The Rockies looked out of it but they would rally…and rally quickly.

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The Rockies rallied in the bottom of the eighth inning as on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Garrett Atkins singled to center field off new reliever Jonathan Broxton on a 3-2 pitch to lead off the inning.

Ryan Spilborghs followed Atkins and he pulled the Rockies within one as he hit a huge home run to right-center field to make it 8-7 Dodgers.

The Rockies would come up in the bottom of the ninth down by that same score against Dodgers closer Takashi Saito.

Saito recorded the first two outs on eight pitches. However, on the first pitch to Matt Holliday, he singled to center field to keep the Rockies hopes alive.

Mr. Rockie, Todd Helton, came up to face Saito. He was buried in a 1-2 count…and he came through. He hit a long drive to right-center field and he had done it; he had just launched a two-run home run to walk it off for the Rockies by a score of 9-8.

Final Totals

The winning pitcher was Ryan Speier as he pitched the ninth inning. Saito notched the loss.

With the win, the Rockies tied the Dodgers for third place in the National League West. However, they were still 4 1/2 games back of the San Diego Padres for the National League Wild Card.

Next: The first part of the Rocktober streak

Voting for the tournament

For voting for the top 32 moments in Rockies franchise history, visit our Twitter page, @RoxPileFS. Check back here tomorrow as we will continue with our third installment of the Rocktober streak.