On June 23rd I and a friend went to see the Angels play the Rockies. Mainly I picked this game because of Ohtani and Trout. I have a package with the Rockies I get for old people and when I went to pick my seats for this game I noticed that the selection wasn’t that great. However, the seats are on the first level down the third base side so I can’t complain. Apparently, 47,000 other people had the same idea so this was the biggest crowd I saw at a Rockies game in quite a while.
On our way to the game, my friends map told us that I-25 on which we were traveling had closed. After discussing this must be a big accident we had to get off the interstate and take side streets to our parking. So did a lot of other people. So, we didn’t get into the stadium until the second and into our seats until the third.
Ohtani hit a first inning double we missed and Jurickson Profar hit a homerun in the bottom of the first to put the Rockies up 1-0. After four innings the game was tied at 2. We were excited as Ohtani was due to lead off the top of the fifth.
Ohtani didn’t disappoint by hitting a homerun to right field. The Baseball Reference site says deep right field, but the ball landed in the Rockies bullpen. Maybe they mean the deep part of the fence. Trout then homered to centerfield. The Baseball Reference comment says deep centerfield which is kind of redundant as all of centerfield is deep. Then the next two batters singled. However, the starter Kyle Freeland got the next three batters out, making this inning (Freeland’s last) a bit of a disappointment for the Angels.
The Rockies kept threatening to come back, putting someone on every inning. They got a run in the sixth but could not tie the game heading into the eighth. Meanwhile Ohtani singled with two out and nobody on in the sixth and was the only runner left on base for the Angels in the six and the seventh.
Now in the eighth, Taylor Ward hits a two out single to send Luis Rengifo to second (after a leadoff walk). The excitement grows as Ohtani is the next batter up, with a chance to give the Angels a comfortable lead. Right-handed pitcher Pierce Johnson stays in the game. I am thinking as I have never seen a cycle in person at an MLB game. The runners advanced to second and third increasing the suspense. Johnson though gets the most clutch pitching moment of the game by striking out Ohtani.
In the bottom of the eighth the Rockies loaded the bases on two singles and a fielders choice with only one out and their cleanup hitter coming to bat. Surprising enough their cleanup hitter is Elias Diaz their catcher. Diaz came into this season having played 8 years with 2.9 WAR. This was mainly due being 42 runs below average as a hitter. Diaz is batting fourth as he is one of two players listed as Rockies starters with an above average OPS plus and some of their better hitters are on the disabled list. The only starting hitter with a better record than Diaz this year was Ryan McMahon, and he was on first. Diaz on a 1-1 count hit a grand slam not only putting the Rockies ahead but giving them a comfortable 3-run lead heading to the ninth.
Justin Lawrence then retired the side in order with 2 strikeouts to end the game and give the Rockies the victory.
