Colorado jumped to a 2-0 lead off Adam Wainwright in the first inning with four consecutive hits to begin their half of the inning. Wainwright then took matters into his own hands with his bat. He drove in the first run and the third run to give Arizona a 3-2 lead before each team tacked on a run to make the score a 4-3 final.
Colorado made the game interesting in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases with two outs. All eyes were on the Toddfather as he approached the plate. The mighty Helton struck out and Coors Field fell silent except for the fans wearing red shirts.
Both clubs play again tomorrow afternoon and it will not be televised. The Cardinals increased their Central lead to two games with Pittsburgh’s loss tonight.
Might as well have been Arizona, RMH
Todd’s last at bat was a sort of period (and, unfortunately, not an exclamation point) on his retirement decision. He has struck out in many situations this year that I have not seen from him before. The mind is there, but the body is not willing.
Right, Thistle. Todd stayed healhier this year, but his skills — his reflexes mostly — really showed major deterioration. Career wise, he struck out just 12.4% of the time. This year: 19.2%. His uncanny ability to foul off pitches he couldn’t handle to wait for the one he could just hasn’t been there (except on rare occasions) this year. And the BB rate was way down too: 14.2% career to 9.5% this year. Most telling: fangraphs looks at hitter performance… Read more »
Yes, I’ve noticed that he usually gets beat on heaters all year. On the other hand I noticed that Charley Blackmon can hit high velocity fastballs.