Diamondbacks 6, Rockies 5: Geraldo Perdomo’s late heroics key comeback win

Geraldo Perdomo played the role of hero in the Diamondbacks’ come from behind win against the Colorado Rockies, with his two-run single in the 8th plating the go-ahead run in a 6-5 win. Perdomo also drew a critical walk and scored a run in the 7th inning, with his fingerprints all over the game.

The D-backs were hoping to get some relief at home after a difficult road trip that saw them drop five of six games. Coming into town was a Rockies team who had the worst road record in baseball at 17-34. On paper this seemed like a “get-right” game, but it was anything but that.

The game could not have started any better for Arizona. Madison Bumgarner retired the Rockies in order in the top of the first while Rockies starter German Marquez labored through a 34-pitch inning that saw the D-backs take a 1-0 lead on a Ketel Marte double.

The lead wouldn’t last long, as Bumgarner grooved a fastball for Randall Grichuk to hit a long home run to left center to tie the game. Jose Iglesias would give the Rockies a lead in the 3rd with an RBI double into the right field corner to put the D-backs down 2-1. Daulton Varsho answered in the bottom of the 4th with an impressive golf shot towards the pool.

The game remained tied at 2-2, as both pitchers settled in and recorded some quick outs. The Rockies would get to Bumgarner in the 6th, when he walked Brendan Rodgers to lead off the inning followed by singles from Grichuk and Yonathan Daza to take a 3-2 lead. Connor Joe hit a weak ground ball to third, but Josh Rojas airmailed Ketel Marte on a potential force play at second to allow everyone to reach. That came back to bite the D-backs as Elehuris Montero singled home two to give the Rockies a 5-2 lead. Bumgarner was pulled with 2 outs, finishing the game with 5 runs (4 earned) on 10 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts in 5 ²⁄₃ innings. Kevin Ginkel finished the inning with no further damage then pitched a scoreless 7th inning.

This easily could have been a game where the D-backs shut down and allow the Rockies to run them out of the stadium, but instead we saw a comeback bid. Lucas Gilbreath struggled to throw strikes in the bottom of the 7th, walking three of the five hitters he faced and setting up Rojas to redeem himself after his error opened up the floodgates the previous inning.

Rojas clubbed a 3-1 fastball into the right center field gap to score two runs, cutting the deficit to 5-4 and putting some pressure on a Rockies team playing historically bad on the road. Torey Lovullo sent out Chris Devenski for the 8th, hoping for a zero to put the hitters back in the dugout. Devenski allowed a one-out double to Joe, but got a pair of strikeouts to strand pinch runner Sam Hilliard at second.

With the momentum fully behind them, the 8th inning was an area of opportunity to strike. The Rockies sent out setup man Alex Colome, who clearly didn’t have good stuff or command. Jake McCarthy hit a line drive through the 5.5 hole to put the tying run on base. Emmanuel Rivera, who drew a walk pinch hitting in the 7th, battled from an 0-2 count to drive a double into the left field corner to move McCarthy to third. A first pitch groundout by Carson Kelly didn’t score McCarthy from third, leaving the possibility they leave the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

Geraldo Perdomo had different ideas.

Perdomo’s had a tough year offensively, but he has actually done well with runners in scoring position this year.

With a 6-5 lead, it was not Mark Melancon who came out for the 9th inning. Instead the D-backs turned to Ian Kennedy to get the final three outs. Kennedy froze Iglesias with a fastball down the middle, in which Iglesias has some words to say to home plate umpire Mark Ripperger before sauntering off to the dugout. Kennedy got the next two hitters to ground out, including this sweet stop by Perdomo.

The win gives the Diamondbacks a two-game cushion over the Rockies for 4th place in the NL West.

Fangraphs Win Probability Chart

Hero: Geraldo Perdomo +53.1%

Sidekicks: Emmanuel Rivera +28.6%, Josh Rojas +20.6%

Disney Villain: Madison Bumgarner -30.9%

The game day thread had 249 comments. Comment of the Night goes to MrRbi17, who was impressed with Geraldo Perdomo’s performance.