Minor League Baseball

Colorado Rockies' Affiliates Pull Off Amazing Accomplishment in Trio of Thrillers

The Rockies lost to the Athletics Friday night, but three of their farm teams earned walk-off wins.
Jami Leabow|
Colorado Rockies cap and glove in the dugout during the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park.
Colorado Rockies cap and glove in the dugout during the game against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

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Colorado Rockies

Apparently, the minor league affiliates of the Colorado Rockies are a bunch to never give up.

They showed that Friday night when they almost pulled off the unthinkable: four walk-off wins from its four full-season affiliates.

It started with the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats in their Eastern League opener, which marked the 10th anniversary of the club. Tied 4-4 with the Somerset Patriots (New York Yankees affiliate) in the ninth inning, Kyle Karros homered into the left-field seats with one out and no one on to give Hartford a 5-4 win.

It was his second solo homer of the day; he also hit one in the first inning.

The 22-year-pld Karros is Colorado’s No. 21 prospect, as ranked by MLB Pipeline, and he has major league bloodlines. His father, Eric, played 13-plus MLB seasons and was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1992 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Out west, on Opening Day in the California League, the Single-A Fresno Grizzlies were tied at 3 with the Stockton Ports (Athletics) after nine innings. In the 11th, Blake Wright started the inning at second base, was bunted to third and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Felix Tena.

And at Triple-A, the Albuquerque Isotopes were trailing 4-2 entering the bottom of the ninth inning against the Salt Lake Bees (Los Angeles Angels), but they shaved one run off the deficit when Colorado’s No. 17 prospect, Sterlin Thompson, led off the inning with a ground-ball single and took second on a wild pitch. Warming Bernabel drove him in with a single to move the score to 4-3, and the Isotopes’ Braxton Fulford hit a two-run homer to left for a 5-4 victory.

The High-A Spokane Indians also were behind 4-2 entering the ninth but could not replicate the walk-off magic. They scored one run against the Everett AquaSox (Seattle Mariners) and loaded the bases with two outs but couldn’t bring the tying run across the plate, falling 4-3.

The Indians can try again Saturday night.

So can the Rockies, who couldn’t muster a win in the snow flurries in Denver, losing 6-3 to the Athletics after the A’s scored three runs in the top half of the 11th inning.

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Jami Leabow
JAMI LEABOW

Jami Leabow is the managing editor of Minor League Baseball on SI. Her love for the game began when her parents bought season tickets to the then-California Angels.

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