Jake Cave hit a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning to tie the game, and the Colorado Rockies went on to beat the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 in 10 innings on Thursday night.
Cave hit the home run off Hunter Strickland, who was pitching in place of closer Carlos Estevez, who was traded to Philadelphia on Saturday.
“You just want to get it to the next guy and hope somebody can put a run across, but you get to a 3-1 count and you tell yourself that this is the time to get my best swing off,” Cave said. “He left one center cut and that’s what (can) happen when they get behind.”
Michael Toglia also hit a two-run home run for the Rockies, who have now won two games in a row after a five-game losing streak. This win marked their third series win in four tries since the All-Star break.
“All wins count the same, but some wins are better than others,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “This was a good one. Coming off our (losing) series in San Francisco then coming here winning two in a row, in two close games, really good stuff. This is going to be a good bus ride down (to San Diego) for everybody.”
In the 10th inning, Jacob Stallings was on second base for Colorado. Sam Hilliard tried a sacrifice bunt, but Angels right-hander Hans Crouse (4-3) threw the ball wide of first base, which allowed Hilliard to score the go-ahead run.
Logan O’Hoppe and Mickey Moniak hit home runs for the Angels, who have lost five of their last seven games. Right-hander Carson Fulmer gave up two runs on three hits over six innings in his fourth start of the season for Los Angeles.
Strickland has one save and one blown save since taking over as closer.
“He just gave into that hitter, tried to get a strike over there and make him swing the bat,” Angels manager Ron Washington said of Strickland’s at-bat against Cave. “He got us to the point where we needed just one pitch to get out of that inning and he didn’t make it.”
Toglia gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning with his 19th home run, right after Brendan Rodgers had a single.
