Colorado Rockies: The top 5 Rockies games from the 2018 season (so far)
Number 1
August 11, 2018
Colorado Rockies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
Coors Field, Denver, Colo.
Stop me if you’re tired of hearing about a Colorado Comeback.
I was going to do a three-way tie for August 10-12, because the last three games of this Dodgers series were one, very important, and two, some of the most nail-biting and exciting games of the season.
I refer to the three games as the “Ryan McMahon Games”. His game-winning homer in the seventh inning of the second game of the series, with the emphatic turn to the dugout when he hit first base, was one of the coolest moments of the year … and the Dodgers walking him to get to Iannetta in the last game was a pretty cool moment too.
Colorado Rockies
But we all know which game should land in this list. Young guns Kyle Freeland and Walker Buehler were on the mound for the Rockies and Dodgers that night and both were nails. Freeland went seven innings to the tune of six hits, two earned runs, and a season-high 10 strikeouts, while Buehler also went seven, giving up just four hits and zero runs.
A Justin Turner RBI triple in the first inning and a Yasiel Puig solo homer in the second were the difference in the game for eight and a half innings. The Rockies offense had been held to just four hits through eight and, with Kenley Jansen going on the DL the night before due to an irregular heartbeat, the Dodgers put in solid left-hander Scott Alexander to face the Rockies lineup, beginning with Carlos Gonzalez to begin the ninth.
After a strikeout of Gonzalez to begin the ninth, Trevor Story topped a ball down the third base line for a double and Dave Roberts pulled Alexander for right-hander JT Chargois to face Nolan Arenado, who was pinch-hitting for Gerardo Parra. After Arenado was hit in the hip by a 3-1 fastball, Ian Desmond hit a 3-2 pitch up the middle when Brian Dozier made a spectacular play to get Arenado at second and Manny Machado nearly turned the double play at first … which brought up the previous night’s hero in Ryan McMahon.
On a 1-0 inside fastball from Chargois, McMahon belted the pitch just over the out of town scoreboard in right field to give the Rockies the 3-2 win over Los Angeles. Pandemonium erupted.