Watch: Rockies baserunner somehow scores huge run on infield pop out
“Who dares, wins” is the maxim of those bold enough to seize on an opportunity and turn it into an act that leaves observers tipping their hats at the person who does what it takes in order to achieve a victory.
For Raimel Tapia of the Colorado Rockies, he dared — and the Rockies won Wednesday night.
Tapia was on third base with the bases loaded in the seventh inning against the Astros when Nolan Arenado hit a pop fly into foul territory on the third-base side that headed toward the stands.
Astros third baseman J.D. Davis gave chase, making a great play over the railing and nearly falling into the dugout to make the catch for the second out of the inning.
But by virtue of Davis having fallen halfway into the dugout, he was way out of position to do anything with the ball, and Tapia chose that moment to tag up and try to score before Davis had a chance to recover.
It was a shrewd calculation, as Davis — forced to rush a throw — airmailed it over the catcher’s head.
https://twitter.com/ATTSportsNetRM/status/1022320142372556800
Not only did Tapia score to tie the game at 2, but the other two runners advanced as well.
And while Houston did get out of the inning without further damage, the seed of their defeat had been planted. Colorado’s Charlie Blackmon hit a walkoff home run in the ninth to give the Rockies a 3-2 win.
Tapia’s been having himself quite a time at the plate and on the basepaths since the All-Star break.
Last week, he hit a grand slam to power a Rockies win over the Diamondbacks 11-10.
And while his season stats have, in just 20 plate appearances, not been too much to write home about (he’s hitting .222 with an even .800 OPS), the 24-year-old utilityman continues to make the most of his latest stint in the major leagues.
For his career, Tapia is hitting .278 with a .723 OPS at the major league level, with minus-0.7 wins above replacement in 232 plate appearances.
Tapia’s boldness helped rescue a game that would, for Rockies fans, have been a gut punch had Houston managed to win it.
The Astros scored two runs, but they only got one hit the entire game, part of a weird fourth inning where a walk and two errors gave Houston the baserunners they needed to put two runs across the plate. Houston had only two other baserunners in the contest on a couple of walks as Jon Gray lowered his ERA to 5.16 with just one of those runs earned in his seven innings.
The Rockies get a weekend series with the Oakland A’s over the next few days as both teams, in third place in their respective divisions and within a couple of games of playoff position, go head to head.
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