OOTP 5/24: Phillies 14, Rockies 10

Ah, now these are the Phillies-Rockies games that I love. High scoring, bullpen driven games where offense gets turned up a notch. This is the good stuff.

This wild one started out well for the Phillies. Jean Segura and Bryce Harper had back-to-back doubles in the top half of the first, giving them a 1-0 lead. They would load the bases on a hit by pitch and a walk to Rhys Hoskins, but couldn’t plate anymore. Cole Irvin, making his season debut, kept the Rockies at bay in the bottom of the first, escaping unscathed. In the top of the second inning, Irvin himself doubled, then scored on a Roman Quinn double. Segura singled to drive in Quinn, then went to third on another Harper double. J.T. Realmuto grounded out to the shortstop to score Quinn and make the score 4-0 Phillies. The bottom half of the inning saw the Rockies get two singles off of Irvin, but nothing more.

In the third, Scott Kingery singled, then went to third on a fielder’s choice. That proved to be big as Irvin singled again, this time knocking in Kingery and making the score 5-0. This would end starter Kyle Freeland’s day for Colorado. It appeared that Philadelphia was going to be on cruise control. The Rockies, though, had other plans. In the bottom of the frame, Ian Desmond singled, Trevor Story walked and Nolan Arenado hit a monster three-run home run to bring the Rockies within two.

The fourth inning passed without incident for both teams, as did the top of the fifth, but in the bottom part, Arenado struck again with a solo home run off of Irvin, making it 5-4. Charlie Blackmon hit a one-out double, then moved to third on a Yonathan Daza infield single. Daniel Murphy would then hit a sacrifice fly that scored Blackmon that tied the score at 5 and ended Irvin’s day on the mound. Nick Pivetta would enter and prevent further damage, sending the game to the sixth.

In the sixth, Segura untied it with a solo home run that put them team ahead, if only temporarily. The bottom of the seventh saw the Rockies take the lead when Blackmon singled and scored on a Daza two-run home run, giving Colorado a 7-6 lead. But what have we seen from the Rockies bullpen? It’s that no lead is safe.

This is how the top of the eighth transpired, with Scott Oberg pitching:

• Forsythe ground out
• Walker double
• Quinn walk
• Segura infield single
• Harper walk, run scores, 7-7 - pitching change
• Realmuto single, run(s) score, 9-7
• McCutchen double, run scores, 10-7
• Hoskins intentional walk
• Kingery strike out
• Forsythe single, run(s) score, 12-7
• Walker single, run scores, 13-7 - pitching change
• Quinn fly out - inning over

The damage: 7 runs, 7 hits, three pitchers used. It was ugggggggly.

The Rockies offense, though, tried to make things interesting in the bottom of the eighth. They scored three runs of their own, thanks to single from Drew Butera, Ian Desmond and an RBI version from Trevor Story. Arenado walked to load the bases, then the Rockies got another one when Brendan Rodgers hit an infield single into no man’s land. Seranthony Dominguez would come in and give up another single that made it 13-10, but that was it. The rally was extinguished when Dominguez induced two groundouts to end the inning.

The ninth saw McCutchen double home Harper that made it a score of 14-10. It stayed that way thanks to Hector Neris locking down the ninth inning for his seventh save of the season.

It was a wild one for sure, and for it the Phillies earn the rare Memorial Day off. They’ll meet the Mets at home on Tuesday for a stretch of NL East games.