Carlos Gonzalez came to Colorado when the Rockies traded slugger Matt Holiday. Cargo proved himself the better asset in left field and at the plate Tuesday night
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The St Louis Cardinals finished their scoring in the top of the 6th Inning on Tuesday night. Former Colorado Rockies left fielder Matt Holiday launched a 3-run shot over the left field fence as he had done so often in purple pinstripes from 2004-2008.
That 418-foot blast put Holiday’s Cardinals up 9-2. It seemed that the rout was on.
The Rockies had stranded 10 runners through five innings (0, 3, 3, 2 & 2) a game after setting a franchise record for most stranded runners with 20. But as is often the case in baseball, the law of averages finally tilted in Colorado’s favor.
Holiday’s left field replacement (via trade to Oakland) Carlos Gonzalez had three RBI of his own to match Matty’s. Cargo’s three, however, came on four hits in six at-bats.
After a 427-foot 2-run bomb to left center in the Bottom of the 3rd, Carlos added a single and a double to leave himself a triple short of completing the cycle. Instead, his final swing was a lining single to right that scored Dexter Fowler with two outs in the bottom of the 9th.
Gonzalez would come all the way home from first to score the tying run two pitches later when Jason Giambi drove an 0-1 pitch to deep right field. Ironically, Giambi did not get credited with an RBI on the play, as Cardinals right fielder Randy Winn was charged with an error for mishandling the ball. Giambi’s biggest run-scoring drive of the season will not register on his stat sheet as anything more than a single.
The game-tying sprint by Cargo set the stage for Colorado’s other left fielder, Seth Smith.
Playing in right field for the ailing Brad Hawpe, Smith came to the plate with Giambi’s pinch runner, Aaron Cook, stationed at 3rd base. Cook, the scheduled starting pitcher for the Rockies tonight, had taken two bases when Miguel Olivo grabbed a low sliding pitch and sent it to shallow right for a single. Smith needed only a single to steal the walk-off win for Colorado.
Instead, Seth powered a 2-2 split-finger fastball over the right field scoreboard for a 3-run game-winner. Smith’s shot completed the biggest 9th Inning comeback in Rockies history and the largest come-from-behind 9th in Major League Baseball since 1918.
With the San Diego Padres losing last night in DC, the Rockies climbed within four games of the division lead.
After Tuesday’s statement win, Colorado will have a chance to put major pressure on the Padres as Cook and staff ace Ubaldo Jimenez take the mound to round out the St Louis series today and tomorrow.
Colorado victories in both those game could set up a winner-take-all for the NL West when San Diego comes to Coors field for a three-game series this weekend.
