Miguel Olivo spoiled hometown hero Roy Halladay’s first ever trip to Coors Field.
Leading off the bottom of the 10th inning, Olivo hammered a hanging curveball from Chad Durbin deep into the left field seats. The home run capped an incredible day for the catcher, who entered Wednesday mired in a 2-for-28 skid.
It was a strange day for Olivo who, against all odds, found his stroke against none other than one of the most dominant pitchers in the game. The Venezuelan had a perfect day at the plate, going 5-for-5 with the walk-off home run, the first of his career. Olivo was greeted by his teammates, who have been eager to celebrate a victory for a while.
The injury-stricken Rockies have struggled to get big hits in big situations. Despite their struggles, they sit just one game under .500 with both Jeff Francis and Huston Street returning soon.
While Olivo delivered the game-winning home run, and had the best day of any Rockie, there was a spark of life in the team due to one player, Brad Hawpe. Hawpe only had one hit, but it was a big one. With the Rockies down 3-1 in the seventh inning the feeling was all too familiar.
If the game had gone the way that most of the early season battles have, the Rockies would have folded and waited to play another day. That is when Hawpe delivered a triple off of the right field wall, scoring two runs and tying the game at three. From that point on the momentum was in the home team’s favor, and hope sprung from a huge hit off of Hawpe’s bat.
Hawpe also delivered the first run of the game, a sacrifice fly to left field that plated Carlos Gonzalez, who had three hits of his own in his return from bereavement leave.
The feeling was a good one for Rockies fans. Despite facing Halladay, the offense never gave in. They took advantage of him, gathering 10 hits, tying a season high for the righty. Even when balls were not falling for the Rockies, they were striking them hard and running into bad luck.
They never hung their heads, however, and did what good teams do, they found a way to win. The Rockies are hopeful that this game marks a turning point for them. They need to feed the momentum that they are riding from a big win and let that show them that they can, and must, beat good pitchers to be successful.
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