Charlie Blackmon’s two-out grand slam in the bottom of the ninth capped a five-run rally and lifted the Colorado Rockies to an 8-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in Denver.
The Rockies (21-23) entered the ninth inning trailing 4-3 after Angels catcher Anthony Bemboom homered in the top of the inning off Daniel Bard (3-2). Ryan McMahon’s one-out homer off Angels reliever Ty Buttrey got the Rockies even in the bottom of the ninth, but they weren’t finished.
“I really just needed to not make an out and that’s it. I wasn’t really trying to hit for extra bases or swing hard,” Blackmon said.
“All wins count the same, but that’s a good time to win.”
After Josh Fuentes doubled and pinch hitter Daniel Murphy walked, Angels manager Joe Maddon removed Buttrey (1-3) in favour of lefty Jose Quijada. Quijada struck out Raimel Tapia for the second out, but walked Trevor Story on four pitches to load the bases for Blackmon.
Quijada fell behind in the count 3-1, then grooved a fastball that Blackmon hit over the fence in right-centre field to end it. Tapia, Story, Blackmon and Fuentes each had two hits for Colorado, while Jared Walsh and Mike Trout had two hits apiece for Los Angeles.
The Angels (18-28) got to Rockies starter German Marquez in the first inning, getting four singles and benefiting from Story’s throwing error at shortstop to push across two runs.
Marquez, though, settled in after that, holding the Angels scoreless over the next six innings before coming out of the game after the seventh.
In seven innings, Marquez gave up two runs on six hits and one walk while triking out five.
With Marquez keeping the Angels at bay, the Rockies offence rallied against Angels starter Griffin Canning. In the third inning, Story’s RBI double and Blackmon’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 2-2.
Canning escaped further damage by striking out Nolan Arenado to end the inning. But in the sixth, Canning gave up a two-out single to Tapia, followed by an RBI triple by Story that put Colorado up 3-2. It remained 3-2 until the eighth when Rockies reliever Mychal Givens surrendered a leadoff homer to Walsh, his fourth of the season, which tied the game 3-3.
Dominic Smith hit a grand slam, Michael Conforto hit a three-run homer and had four RBIs, Jacob deGrom struck out nine and visiting New York defeated Toronto at Buffalo.
Wilson Ramos added a three-run double in New York’s 10-run fourth inning in the opener of a three-game series. Ramos finished with two doubles, a solo homer and four RBIs.
It was the second straight lopsided win in a start by deGrom (4-1), who allowed one run, three hits and two walks in six innings.
The Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 14-1 on Sunday. Toronto starter Chase Anderson (0-1) allowed four runs, four hits and three walks in 2 2/3 innings. Blue Jays shortstop Santiago Espinal pitched the ninth and allowed one run.
Oakland’s Matt Olson racked up five RBIs - four of them coming on a first-inning grand slam - to back the solid pitching of starter Mike Fiers as the Athletics walloped Texas in the first of a four-game series at Arlington, Texas.
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