They just finished a ten inning thriller in Colorado as the Rockies beat the Giants with a walk off double by Troy Tulowitski who may have, in September of 2010, become the best player in baseball. It was a game the Rockies desperately needed to keep their slim playoff hopes alive. At the very least, it would knock the Giants out of first place (again). But the double that drove in Carlos Gonzalez with the winning run (off of Brain Wilson no less) wasn't the only heroics on Tulo's part. It was just the final act.
Tulowitzki walked in the first after Carlos Gonzalez had singled and both scored on a Melvin Mora double to get two quick runs off of Barry Zito (whose pitching broke the Giants' streak of 18 straight games with three runs or less given up by their starters). Those runs erased a first inning homer by Freddie Sanchez.
The Giants scored two runs in the top of the third on homers by Torres and Aubrey Huff to make it a 3-2 game. The bats were silent for an inning after that. The Giants scored another run in the fifth on an RBI single by Pat Burrell and the Giants took a 4-2 lead. But the Rockies broke up the Giants streak and ended Zito's night in the bottom half of the same inning.
Carlos Ganzalez hit an RBI triple to chase Zito. Ray was the new pitcher and the first batter he faced was Troy Tulowitzki. Have fun with that. Tulo crushed a two-run homer and the Rockies had a 6-4 lead after they were done (Iannetta drove in another run with a single). But the Rockies couldn't hold the lead.
The Giants roared right back in the top of the six and scored five runs. The big blow was a three-run homer by Cody Ross. That chased Hammel and the Giants had a 9-6 lead. But Tulo wasn't done. Not by a long shot. The Rockies scored another run in their half of the sixth on a double-play ball hit be CarGo with runners on first and third with no out. Tulowitzki followed that run with a single but was stranded. The Rockies had cut the lead to 9-7.
The score remained the same until the bottom of the eighth inning when with two outs, Tulowitzki his a game-tying double off of Brian Wilson. That gave him four RBIs for the evening. The first two gave the Rockies the lead and the second two tied the score. And you know the rest. CarGo got a single off of Wilson in the tenth and then Troy Tulowitzki hit his double to score him with the winning run. The final tally in a game the Rockies simply had to have? Four hits, two doubles, a homer and five RBI.
Tulowitzki's game is the stuff of legend and that's the kind of thrills that make baseball the amazing game that it is.
1 comment:
He's had an unreal month. Just insane.
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