Colorado Rockies: Some of the best moments of the 2019 season thus far

The Colorado Rockies ended the first half of the season on a bad note as they lost five in a row heading into the All-Star break. With that streak, they ended the first half one game under .500.

Despite being one game under .500 entering the All-Star break, the Colorado Rockies, like most teams, have had plenty of highlights throughout the first half of the season. Let’s look back on the season that has been thus far and look at some of the highlights and let’s start at the very beginning season.

Iannetta’s homer in Tampa

The Colorado Rockies started the season on the wrong foot. They won the first two games of the season against the Miami Marlins but after the two wins, they lost 12 of their next 13 games. The only win that the Rockies had in that span was the fifth game of that span and it was while the Rockies were finishing an interleague series with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rockies and the Rays were scoreless heading to the 11th inning. With an 0-2 count and one out, Chris Iannetta connected for a home run to left field to break the scoreless tie. That’s the only run that would be scored in the game as the Rockies won 1-0.

It might even be a bigger moment if the Rockies didn’t follow the win with eight straight losses.

Marquez’s near no-hitter in San Francisco

To break that streak of losses for the Rockies, German Marquez nearly had to throw a no-hitter.

He nearly threw a no-hitter in San Francisco in the finale of a 3-game series with the Giants as he only gave up one hit, a single to Evan Longoria with one out in the eighth inning.

The Rockies’ four runs was provided by a RBI double by Trevor Story in the third inning and a 3-run home run by Nolan Arenado in the 5th inning.

Marquez ended up throwing a complete game while striking out nine batters, only needing 105 pitches to accomplish it.

You can see some highlights of the game here.

Charlie Blackmon’s walkoff

As the Rockies got back on track with Marquez’s win, the Rockies won five in a row. The fifth win was at home against the Philadelphia Phillies.

To win this one, though, the Rockies had to overcome deficits multiple times. In the 6th inning, the Rockies overcame a 2-0 deficit with a solo home run by Trevor Story and a RBI double by Garrett Hampson.

It stayed tied at two until the top of the 12th inning when Rockies reliever Chad Bettis allowed a RBI double to Bryce Harper.

In the bottom half of the 12th, the Rockies had to face old friend Juan Nicasio. After Hampson grounded out to start the inning, Tony Wolters walked. After Wolters, Raimel Tapia recorded the second out of the inning.

Charlie Blackmon came up and with a 1-2 count and with only a 12 percent chance of winning the game heading into the at-bat, according to Baseball Reference, Blackmon turned the 12 percent chance into 100 percent with one swing.

He hit his first home run of the season: a 444 foot, 2-run home run into the Phillies bullpen in right-center field to send more than 35,000 Rockies fans home happy.

You can check his home run out here.

Tapia inside the park home run

The following day after Blackmon’s walkoff home run, Blackmon led off the game for the Rockies with another home run. However, leading off the next inning for the Rockies was outfielder Raimel Tapia, who had yet to homer on the season. However, he changed that in an unconventional way.

He launched a ball over 102 MPH about where Blackmon hit where hit walkoff the previous night but Tapia hit this ball 407 feet. The carom off the wall was poorly played by Phillies centerfielder Roman Quinn and with Tapia’s speed, he was able to round the bases with relative ease.

The inside-the-parker put the Rockies lead at 2-0 but the Rockies ended up losing by a score of 8-5, after the Rockies allowed two innings with three spots to the Phillies later in the game.

You can check out Tapia’s trip around the bases here.

Story’s walkoff against the Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles faced the Rockies for the first time since 2016 and the first time at Coors Field since June 2004. In fact, the last time the Rockies faced the Orioles at Coors Field, the Rockies had Todd Helton, Vinny Castilla, and Matt Holliday (in his rookie season) in the lineup and it even had Denny Hocking starting at shortstop (good times).

In their first game at Coors Field in 15 years, the two teams headed to the 9th inning tied at six but it didn’t stay that way for much longer. Ryan McMahon led off the inning with a walk against Orioles closer Mychal Givens. After Raimel Tapia struck out, Trevor Story came to the plate.

On a 2-2 pitch, Story went the other way with the ball and hit it just over the right field wall as the ball landed into the first row above the out of town scoreboard.

Story’s homer was his second of the game and they were his 12th and 13th home runs of the season.

You can check out the video of his walkoff home run here.

Lambert’s debut

After being drafted in the 2nd round of the 2015 MLB Amateur Draft, Peter Lambert became one of the top prospects in the Rockies system and he was one of the top 100 prospects in baseball.

A few years of seasoning in the minor leagues and due to some injuries and poor performances by other starting pitchers, though, meant the Rockies would try to see how he would fare at the major league level.

In his major league debut at Wrigley Field, Lambert made a very good first impression. He pitched seven innings, allowing only four hits and only one run, one walk, and striking out nine. He ended up getting the win as well.

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Also, he topped off his pitching performance by his first trip to the plate as a hitter. The first pitch he saw as a hitter was single to left centerfield, and it even was above league average on exit velocity, as it was 88.1 MPH per Statcast (87.5 MPH is league average).

Lambert has had some struggles since (hence, his 6.67 overall ERA and a 8.34 ERA since his first outing, a .344/.390/.729 opponent slash line, and averaging less than five innings a start in the five starts since his first outing) but the results from his first outing is something that the Rockies will be looking for in the second half.