LDN - Sports

Descalso's two-out single in ninth lifts Rockies

[September 17, 2016] DENVER -- When pinch hitter Daniel Descalso singled off the wall in center field with two outs in the ninth inning on Friday night, giving the Colorado Rockies an 8-7 win over San Diego, it ended a remarkable Padres streak.

They were 50-0 this season when leading after eight innings and had the longest active streak in the majors at 143 dating back to July 5, 2014.

The walk-off win was the Rockies' fourth this season and second straight on a pinch hit. Cristhian Adames' pinch-hit double gave the Rockies a walk-off win against San Francisco in their last home game Sept. 7. This one came after a disappointing 2-5 road trip that ended with three straight losses at Arizona where the Rockies were outscored 34-19 and yielded 50 hits, including 10 homers.

In the top of the ninth, a sudden hailstorm halted play for 38 minutes. Boone Logan retired the two batters he faced when play resumed, and Adam Ottavino (1-2) faced one batter to finish off the ninth.

The Rockies mounted their game-winning rally against closer Brandon Maurer (0-5), who gave up three runs and five hits, the final four in succession. Maurer allowed a one-out double to DJ LeMahieu and a two-out single to Carlos Gonzalez to make it a one-run game.

Pinch hitter David Dahl fell behind 0-2 but drove an opposite-field single to left on Maurer's seventh pitch.

"I was just trying to put a good at-bat together," Dahl said. "He runs two-seamers away on me. So I was just trying to take it the other way, not try to do too much.''

Nick Hundley fell behind 0-2 but tied the score by grounding a single to left on a nine-pitch at-bat that set the stage for Descalso, who is 9-for-23 with two homers and five RBIs as a pinch hitter.

"It might be the only single off the wall I've ever hit," Descalso said of Mauer's sixth pitch, a 3-2 fastball, that he drove to the deepest part of the ballpark.

"I felt he was kind of nibbling a little bit, maybe to try not to make a mistake," said Descalso, who went from 2-0 to 3-1 to 3-2 before delivering his second career walk-off RBI in the ninth inning. The other was also against the Padres on April 22, 2015. "But once he got to 3-2, I told myself just be ready for something over the plate."

Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood, who faced two batters in the sixth, gave up seven runs and became the fourth straight Rockies starter to work five or fewer innings. He yielded a two-run homer to Wil Myers in the first and a solo homer to Luis Sardinas in the sixth that put the Padres ahead 7-4.

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The Rockies scored four runs in the second off Christian Friedrich, giving Chatwood a 4-2 lead that he quickly lost in the third when he walked two batters, hit another one, and all three runners scored as Alex Dickerson lifted a two-run single into short right field. Sardinas ran hard to stay out of a double play, allowing a run to score on the fielder's choice.

Friedrich, who was Colorado's first-round draft pick in 2008, worked five innings, all scoreless save for a four-run second that ended his streak of not allowing an earned run to the Rockies this season at 14 innings in three starts.

The four runs scored with two outs, the final three on LeMahieu's double after Chatwood singled home the first run of the inning. LeMahieu went 3-for-5 to raise his average to .3488, putting him slightly behind Washington's Daniel Murphy (.3492) in the National League batting race.

"Christian didn't have his best stuff," Padres manager Andy Green said. "He was able to settle in after the second inning and left us in a position to win the game."

Four relievers followed Chatwood to the mound and combined to alllow two hits in four scoreless innings. All of which appeared to go for naught until the heavens suddenly opened in the top of the ninth and the Rockies roughed up Maurer in the bottom of the inning.

"I don't think we lost anything with the hale delay," Myers said. "I never saw anything like that in my life. It didn't hurt terribly, but it didn't feel good."

NOTES: Rockies 2B DJ LeMahieu extended his career-high on-base streak to 32 games. ... Padres 3B Yangervis Solarte was scratched from the lineup and left the team to deal with an ongoing family situation. His return is uncertain. ... Padres CF Travis Jankowski was in the lineup. He missed the three-game series with San Francisco that ended Wednesday because of a family matter. ... Rockies RHP German Marquez will likely make one or two starts before the end of the season. He made his third major league appearance in relief and pitched one scoreless inning Friday after going a combined 11-4 with a 3.13 ERA at Double-A Hartford and Triple-A Albuquerque.

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