A miraculous Colorado Rockies comeback added to the Atlanta Braves misery on Sunday. Down 8-2 entering the eighth inning, the Rockies scored seven runs against Atlanta’s bullpen to turn that 8-2 deficit into a 9-8 win (box score). For the Braves, the six-run blown lead sent them to their seventh loss in their last eight games.
Here is that seven-run rally, which was capped off by Brendan Rodgers’ go-ahead two-run double. Luke Jackson was charged with four runs in two-thirds of an inning. Joe Jiménez wore the other three runs. He got one out.
According to FanGraphs, the Braves had a 99.0% chance to win Sunday’s game after Jackson struck out Rodgers to open the eighth inning. For all intents and purposes, this was a 1-in-100 comeback, which feels too common, no? One out of 100 isn’t that rare. Six straight Rockies reached base with two outs to extend the rally and push across the seven runs.
Sunday’s game was only the second time in Rockies franchise history that they came back to win a game when trailing by at least six runs in the eighth inning or later. The only other time it happened: July 6, 2010, when the Rockies erased a 9-3 deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals. Seth Smith hit a walk-off three-run home run off Ryan Franklin.
The Rockies are now 2-725 all-time — 2-725! — when trailing by six or more runs in the eighth inning or later. I’m a bit surprised they’ve mounted only two such comebacks given the Coors Field of it all. It’s a wonderful place to hit and a terrible place to pitch. I would’ve guessed the Rockies had a few more six-run late-inning comebacks than that. Huh.
Sunday’s win improved Colorado to 44-75. They have the second worst record in baseball but are 16 games up on the historically bad Chicago White Sox. The Braves, meanwhile, are 61-56 on the season.
