Rockies first baseman Ben Paulsen celebrates after hitting a walk-off single to lift the Rockies to an 8-7 victory over Texas Monday night at Coors Field. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)
Just when you think you’ve seen everything at Coors Field … along comes Ben Paulsen.
As Rockies fan Jacob Lucy tweeted at me after the game: “Paulsen went from court jester to knight in shining armor” in the span of five innings during Colorado’s raucous 8-7 victory over the Texas Rangers Monday night at Coors Field.
ICYMI, here’s how it went down:
In the Ranger’s game-changing, three-run fifth inning, with one out and two men on, Prince Fielder grounded out to Paulsen, who stepped on first. Thinking he had recorded the third out, Paulsen began jogging to the Rockies’ dugout. Meanwhile, Texas starting pitcher Nick Martinez scored from third, and Rougned Odor, taking advantage of Paulen’s mental lapse, scored all the way from second, sliding home to beat Paulsen’s late throw. Fielder was officially credited with two RBIs on the strange play.
Earlier in the inning, Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez tried to throw out Odor at the plate. Odor was safe, but in Paulsen’s brain, there were two outs.
“That’s exactly what happened,” Paulsen said. “I thought CarGo threw Odor out at the plate, and I went back and I was holding up two fingers. I didn’t even think to look at the scoreboard. Maybe next time I can put three rocks in my pocket and take one out with each out.”
Sweet redemption arrived in the bottom of the ninth when Paulsen scorched a game-winning single into the gap in left-center for the first walk-off hit of his career.
That prompted manager Walt Weiss to quip: “I think that’s the first time I’ve see two walk-offs in one night.”
With two on and one out, Paulsen pounced on a 2-2, 96 mph fastball by reliever Tanner Scheppers, driving in pinch-runner Drew Stubbs.
“I was just concentrating on having a good at-bat,” Paulsen said. “I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, I have to get a hit here.’ I just thought if I put a good swing on it, good things can happen.”
Paulsen called his mistake a “bonehead play,” and said it had never happened to him before.
“I don’t think I have ever done that, and it was really bad that men were on base,” he said.
It was a crazy night of baseball in LoDo. Here are some other things you might have missed:
* The Rangers tied the game 7-7 in the top of the ninth on a single by Adrian Beltran off Rockies closer John Axford. Axford had intentionally walked the dangerous Prince Fielder one batter before.
“It’s pick your poison right there,” Weiss explained. “I know putting Fielder on was the go-ahead run, but both men are great hitters and great RBI men. I wanted to give ‘Ax’ a a couple of pitches to Fielder to see where we are at. Then I was going to make my decision.
“I didn’t want (Axford) to give into Fielder. I wanted Ax to make Fielder hit his pitch. But once he got to 2-0, I went ahead and had him put Fielder on. I didn’t want Fielder in good counts.”
* Monday was the Rockies’ fourth walk-off win of the season, and their fifth consecutive win at Coors Field.
* By surrendering a 7-0 lead, the Rockies blew their biggest lead of the season. In fact, it was their largest blown lead since surrendering an eight-run lead on May 30, 2008 at Chicago. The Rockies had never won a game in which they surrendered a lead of seven or more runs.
* Charlie Blackmon has hit safely in 23 of his last 28 games since June 16. He is batting .351 (39-for-111) with 19 runs, seven doubles, three triples, four home runs, 21 RBIs and 13 walks over that span.
* DJ LeMahieu extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI triple in the second inning. It’s the longest active hitting streak in the majors. During the streak, LeMahieu is hitting .432 (19-for-44) with two doubles and three RBIs.
* Troy Tulowitzki extended his on-base streak to 41 games (since May 26) with a two-run home run in the second inning. It is the longest active streak in the majors and tied for the second-longest in franchise history. Michael Cuddyer’s 46-game on-base streak in 2013 holds the top spot.
* During the streak, Tulo is batting .365 (57-for-156) with four doubles, 10 home runs, 34 RBIs and 18 walks. He’s recorded a hit in 38 of his past 39 games.
Tags: Ben Paulsen, Carlos Gonzalez, DJ Lemahieu, Troy Tulowitzki, Walt Weiss
