Blackmon's birthday blast, Cave's 1st walk-off cap Rox's wild night

DENVER -- Charlie Blackmon is no stranger to celebration. He hit his first Major League home run 13 years ago on his birthday, and with a 2-for-5 showing at the plate and his third career birthday dinger Monday night, he helped push the Rockies to celebrate an 8-7 walk-off win in 10 innings in the series opener against the Brewers.

Blackmon made right fielder Jackson Chourio chase the ball to the warning track in his first at-bat, but in the third, he sent the ball a Statcast-projected 431 feet into the Brewers' bullpen for a solo shot to give the Rockies a 3-0 lead.

“It's a remarkable accomplishment for him personally, to be good enough to be around for this long,” starting pitcher Austin Gomber said of Blackmon’s blast on his 38th birthday. “He's obviously one of the best players to ever put on a Rockies uniform, but just on a personal level, the work he puts in every day, how he goes about his business. It's incredible to see and it's good for our young players in here to have somebody like that they can look up to.”

The team followed Blackmon’s lead Monday, firing on all cylinders to take the early lead and battle back and forth before Jake Cave’s bases-loaded walk-off single in the 10th, plating pinch-runner Aaron Schunk. The Brewers intentionally walked Brenton Doyle and Nolan Jones to get to Cave.

“All I was really thinking about is, if it gets to me, get the job done,” Cave said. “Calm the breathing down. Be ready to go. And luckily, he left one up and I could get the job done.”

Cave is in his seventh big league season, but it was his first career walk-off.

“I was pumped,” Cave said. “That was awesome. I almost fell because I was looking at the dugout so hard. I've dreamed about it as a little kid. I hope I get an opportunity to do it again.”

Doyle was in the middle of the offense, going three-for-four with a walk, scoring three runs, stealing a base, stretching a single into a double and knocking three runs in on the strength of two homers, a 445-foot blast to center in the second and a 382-foot solo shot to right in the eighth.

“It's huge,” Doyle said of contributing two homers to give the Rockies back-to-back wins in extras. “Especially in a game like this, where one run was the winning run. A grinder game yesterday, 14 innings, and to come here and win another one in extras is pretty awesome.”

After Doyle staked the team to a 2-0 lead in the second, Jones provided a big shutdown moment in the top of the third, robbing Eric Haase of a leadoff double down the left-field line with a 101.3 mph rocket of a throw to nab him at second. Per Statcast, it was the hardest throw recorded this season on an outfield assist, and the second hardest of Jones’ career, trailing a 102.7 mph assist last season.

Ryan McMahon saved a run in the 10th with a one-out fielder’s choice on a Rhys Hoskins grounder to third, throwing home to easily catch Christian Yelich at the plate.

“Mac made a couple real good plays that were tougher than maybe what they seem like on TV or from afar,” manager Bud Black said. “It takes an effort like tonight where we got good starting pitching, we pitched in relief well when we needed to, got some clutch hitting and we always play good defense. That's what it takes to win games and that's why we won it, because we did those things.”

Black has long praised the starting pitching and the defense, but it has been a struggle to get the offense and the bullpen to show up consistently.

Monday night started with reliable defense and a solid start from Gomber, who scattered nine hits over six innings with no walks and three strikeouts while allowing four earned runs. But to have timely hitting and the bullpen all show up for a grand-slam approach proved to be the winning recipe for Blackmon’s birthday bash.

“That's obviously a really good team,” Cave said of the Brewers. “To beat those types of teams, you've got to play to the last out, even if it's extras, and that was what we did. That's a good one right there. You can't take that from us.”