Tovar ends thrilling 12-inning affair with walk-off knock

DENVER -- The Rockies and Red Sox went deep into extra innings, draining benches and bullpens and generating enough drama and “sick” twists for a full series before the Rockies finally capped the night with a bases-loaded walk-off single from Ezequiel Tovar to take the first game of the three-game set, 9-8, at Coors Field on Monday.

Jake Cave sparked the winning rally with an RBI single and advanced to second when the ball got past Tyler O’Neill for an error. After an intentional walk to Jacob Stallings, Sam Hilliard put down a bunt to move the runners to second and third. The Red Sox intentionally walked Aaron Schunk to bring to the plate Charlie Blackmon, who struck out before Tovar lifted a line drive to center to end it.

Tovar was 3-for-7 with a run and the game-winning RBI, extending his multi-hit streak to six games. He’s hitting .439 (18-for-41) in his nine-game streak.

“Stud,” Hilliard said of his teammate. “He was sick, he wasn’t in the lineup last night because he was sick. He was better, good enough to play tonight, but a little Michael Jordan flu game for Tovy tonight.”

The Red Sox got their first lead of the game in the 1oth inning, when pinch-hitter Dominic Smith opened the inning with an RBI double to right-center field. Connor Wong took Brenton Doyle to the warning track, where he leaped to make the catch, robbing Wong of what may have been a homer. Rafael Devers followed with a liner to left, deep enough to score Smith, who had advanced on Wong’s fly.

The Rockies answered in the bottom of the inning when Hilliard launched a Statcast-projected 450-foot homer into the Rockies’ bullpen to tie the game at 7-7. It was Hilliard’s first career game-tying home run in extra innings.

“I kind of went up there looking for a changeup, which is the pitch I hit out,” Hilliard said of his faceoff against reliever Greg Weissert. “He threw me one away that I swung through. My swing probably got a little bit too big. And then 0-1, he pretty much threw the same pitch, maybe a little bit lower, kind of more into my loop, my swing. Before that, I just told myself to shorten up and don't do too much, and I was able to put the barrel on it and it went. It's good to see an adjustment pay off like that mid at-bat.”

The Rockies jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the fourth, ignited by a two-run homer to right from Charlie Blackmon – tying Vinny Castilla for the fifth-most career homers at Coors Field.

But the Red Sox disrupted a strong outing by Austin Gomber with a four-run fifth, fueled by a three-run shot from Jamie Westbrook. Gomber pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and a walk while striking out five.

“It's the best I've thrown the ball since 2021 -- I haven't had that good of stuff in three-plus years,” Gomber said of his outing. “The past couple of weeks has been the liveliest my arm’s been in a couple years.”

The Rockies are now 6-4 in extra innings, and 4-0 in extras at home. They’re also 3-0 in 12-inning games this season, and they’re tied with the Red Sox and Marlins for playing the most 12-inning games.

Tovar’s clutch hit cued the Rockies’ seventh walk-off win this season -- third most in the Majors.

“To get the game-winning knock right there, and he got a couple of knocks on the night, and you could just tell he was grinding,” Hilliard said of Tovar’s heroics. “The heart that he showed tonight was sick, honestly. It was great.”

There was a lot of grinding on both sides of the diamond, with each team answering back whenever the other staked out a lead.

“This is a little different Red Sox team [than we’re used to], right?” manager Bud Black said. “They're scrappy. They battled. They got speed. They put the ball in play. They came back. They came back a couple times. We came back a couple times. It was a great game, good win. It's gonna be a tough loss for whoever lost that one, but our guys endured and kept going, showed a lot of resolve.”