Raimel Tapia hits walk-off home run to lead Rockies to third straight win
DENVER — The home run drought is over for Trevor Story, but it was Raimel Tapia who was the hero for the Rockies.
Tapia hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Rockies a 5-4 win over the Phillies. The Rockies have now won three in a row, their longest winning streak of the season.
“I knew it had a chance, I knew I hit it well,” Tapia said. “When I saw it go out, I was very excited. I threw the bat. Probably the most exciting part was watching how excited my teammates were celebrating.”
For 29 games, the longest stretch of his career, Story has tried, but came up just short. On Friday, he finally got it over the wall, hitting it 375 feet for his first home run of the season.
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He was mobbed by his teammates as he came off the field. He’s come close many times to hitting it out of the park, but until Friday, they all landed just shy of the outfield wall. He now has at least one hit in his last five games.
The offense saved the team on Friday from another bullpen implosion. After six innings of work, starter Germán Márquez passed the game to Yency Almonte in the seventh with the score tied 2-2. Almonte gave up a double, stolen base and a home run. He lasted just three batters, the minimum before the Rockies could replace him, as the Phillies took a 4-2 lead. The bullpen has a 5.43 ERA, the fourth highest in MLB.
“Every team that is successful, every team that wins has a good pitching staff,” manager Bud Black said. “I think we have the arms, I think we have the talent. We have a few things we need to work through with our bullpen, but I think we’ll get there.”
The Rockies get contributions from all over their lineup. CJ Cron also hit a home run, his second of the year, in the fourth inning. Yonathan Daze continued to show he belonged in the daily lineup, hitting a single in fourth. He’s 8-for-18 with two doubles, one home run and three RBI through his last eight games. Sam Hilliard, who was 0-for-20 since April 7, broke his hittless streak by knocking down a single in the seventh as a pinch hitter.
Ryan McMahon hit a RBI single in the seventh inning to send Sam Hilliard home and cut the Phillies lead to 4-3. Garrett Hampson followed that up with a home run in the eighth to tie the game.
“I know that we have it in us,” Hampson said. “If we can just score more runs than the other team, that’s a complete game.”
Márquez was not his best on Friday, but he did show off his curveball and other secondary pitches.
Five of his eight strikeouts came off a curveball, and the last three on a slider. He pitched six innings, allowing six hits and two walks. His eight strikeouts was a season-high. Márquez did have some command issues with both his fastball and curveball, but he did what he needed to to get the job done on Friday.