DENVER — Ryan McMahon was nearly a defensive hero in the top of the 9th inning.
The Rockies' third baseman came up with an Arenado-like bare-handed scoop and throw for the second out that preserved a tie. McMahon then made a terrific back-handed stop on a smash and throw to first on a hop. But first baseman Kris Bryant couldn't scoop it and the Tampa Rays went up 7-6.
The home-opening, sellout crowd of 48,399 let Bryant have it with boos -- a jeering the highly-priced middle-of-the-lineup, utility player heard throughout the game.
But then McMahom came to the rescue with his bat in the bottom of the 9th. Although Rockies' closer Justin Lawrence had blown a 6-2 lead in the 9th by giving up five hits and five runs, Rays' closer Pete Fairbanks was even worse. Given a 7-6 lead, Fairbanks promptly walked the first three Rockies batters to load the bases with no outs.
Fairbanks was pulled, Jason Adam was brought in to pitch out of the jam and Bryant was the first batter. Bryant struck out swinging at three straight wicked sliders. Booo!
But with Bryant out of the way, McMahon stepped up and belted the first pitch above the right-field scoreboard into the right-field stands for a grand slam that gave the Rockies a 10-7 win to cap a festive home-opening day at Coors Field.
“It feels good. Pretty cool. Opening Day. Big crowd. It’s up there that’s for sure,'' McMahon said when asked where this moment ranked in his 8-year, 105-homer career.
"It feels good to get this one. Opening Day in Colorado is a special day. Getting a win today -- is that correct?'' Rockies manager Bud Black said in checking with a 9NEWS reporter about a question he was asked pregame. "What that means. There's something to that. And I believe that. So let's see how we come out tomorrow.''
The Rockies are now 2-6 while the Rays fell to 3-5. The teams play again Saturday night with first pitch at 6:10. The weather is supposed to change drastically from the gorgeous, 75-degree, bright sunshine afternoon Friday. About halfway through the much-anticipated home opener, about the only commotion from the Coors Field sellout crowd was a smattering of boos for Bryant.
Once the National League Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player and World Series hero for the Chicago Cubs, Bryant’s career has been in decline since his third year of 2017, with a precipitous tumble after he signed an enormous, $182 million contract with the Colorado Rockies prior to the 2022 season.
Bryant struck out in the first inning. Booo! He popped up weakly foul to the first baseman in the fourth inning. Booo! He popped weakly into shallow center in the sixth inning. For the most part, Rockies fans didn’t bother working up the negative energy. Bryant at that point was 2 for 23 on the season, an .087 batting average.
“It’s all part of it,'' Bryant said afterwards of the fans' reaction. "I try to practice what I preach and what I’m telling these guys is It takes courage to show up every day in this game. This game dishes you a lot. A lot of ups – uh, not a lot of ups – but a lot of downs.
"Just showing up and putting in the work and I know that I’m out there giving it all I’ve got. And at the end of the day that let’s me put my head on the pillow and feel good about myself. But I know I have three boys waiting to give me a hug right now and that makes anything that this game dishes pretty easy to handle.”
Bryant got a break in his fourth at-bat in the eighth inning. A pitch way outside that should have been ball four was called a strike. Bryant had to continue his at-bat. He fouled off two pitches then absolutely crushed a home run to left that was so far, it hit the white mitt in the center of a red charity banner.
Bryant’s blast put the Rockies up 6-2 heading into the 9th inning. But Lawrence, the closer in a non-closing situation, was belted for five hits and five runs in the 9th.
By the 7th inning stretch, the temperature had reached 76 degrees, the Coors Field grass had stayed immaculately green and manicured in rows, the sun rays were mercilessly bright except for when they fell behind the third-base line and the sellout crowd had just been moved into a positive vibe thanks to a go-ahead home run by young Ezekiel Tovar.
Early signs from a horrific season-opening road trip suggest the Rockies might not be good again this year after they lost 103 games last year.
But thanks to the Tovar and Bryant homers, strong relief pitching from Pete Lambert, Jake Bird and Nick Mears, and a determined effort to overcome a shaky beginning by starting pitcher Austin Gombert, all was swell for the Rockies heading into the 9th inning Friday.
Whereupon the boos returned for Bryant. He was booed for not making a tough scoop on McMahon's throw following a terrific stop by the Rockies' third baseman.
Bryant was booed again after striking out with the bases loaded for the first out in the 9th.
Funny. Five days earlier Bryant received a standing ovation from Cubs fans at Wrigley Field. Technically they were the enemy crowd. The boos through much of the game here Friday came from his latest hometown gathering.
It can be explained. After a 108-year championship drought, no prominent Cubs player from their 2016 World Series team will ever again have to buy a drink in Chicago. Even if he eventually slumped his way out of Chicago, Bryant can best be described as nowhere near the $26 million a year he is being paid in Colorado.
“You keep on keeping on,'' Bryant said of the emotional swing from standing O to boos. "But yeah, I’ve been through it all. Death threats, kill yourself, all the craziness that this game will dish out. It’s what I’ve been trying to talk with these young guys – Nolan (Jones) was going through it early on and just told him it takes courage to keep showing up. It’s going to make you a better person at the end of your career and it’s something that I’ll be able to teach my kids through adversity, how do you respond to it. And you’ve just got to keep going.”
Bryant went on to explain death threats are what many players hear from fans. His 2 for 23 start this season came after he hit just 5 homers with 14 RBIs in 42 games in his first injury-plagued season of 2022 and only 10 homers and 31 RBIS in 80 games in his second injury-plagued season of 2023.
“I’ll talk to K.B.,'' Black said. "I mean K.B.’s been around a long time. He knows his place on this team and the responsibility of that. He gets it. He played in a big market. Rookie of the Year. NationalLeague MVP. World Series champion. He understand the highs and today you know we heard it. But he’s got a lot of pride. He’s got a lot of pride to carry a lot.
"Professional athletes in some ways are conditioned to this. They get it. The good ones get it. The guys with perspective get it. And you keep fighting through all that. It’s part of what we do in this job. And we understand it. So I think he’l be fine.”
Black said before the game there was a little extra incentive for his struggling Rockies to win the home opener before the sellout crowd and he managed as such. He called on the best part of his bullpen with Lambert eventually coming in to pitch two shutout innings.
The Rockies are now 2-6 and if not for Lawrence's poor 9th inning, Lambert would have had both wins. Bird and Mears each pitched a scoreless inning to bring a 4-2 lead to the bottom of the eighth. At that point, Rockies’ pitching – so dreadful to open the season – struck out 13 Rays at hitter-friendly Coors Field.
It was that kind of game -- 3 runs total through six innings and then 9 runs combined in the 9th. McMahon finished it off by belting another Adam slider, this time into the right-field stands.
"The three he threw to K.B. were filthy,'' McMahon said to 9NEWS. "The way he was throwing that pitch, I thought he might throw the same pitch to me. But the one I got wasn't the same that K.B. got. I think mine might have backed up."
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