The top of the ninth in Rockies-Brewers NLDS Game 1 was some intense baseball theater
The Rockies and Brewers put together a pretty epic Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Thursday night, the type that makes you really appreciate the little intricacies of the sport -- unless you're a fan of either team, in which case it was probably too intense.
Clinging to a 2-0 lead, the Brewers headed to the ninth looking for a win behind closer
That brought up
But it was so close:
*holds fingers really close together.*
— Cut4 (@Cut4) October 5, 2018
That's how close @Chuck_Nazty was to an RBI double. Game of inches, man. pic.twitter.com/QFgPiS6Bdc
In those brief few seconds of action, the vibe at Miller Park changed dramatically ... from excited anticipation to a feeling of unease. But then the near-RBI double was taken away, only to have Blackmon then hit an RBI single anyway, pulling Colorado to within 2-1.
Then, another emotional swing, after
Brewers fans were concerned:
The Colorado dugout was pumped:
A rundown on a
The game headed to extras, where
After the game, Rockies manager Bud Black recalled Blackmon's fair-or-foul line drive, noting that he couldn't quite tell from his vantage point in the dugout:
"I don't know if they superimposed it really close or not, but I have not looked at it since the game ended. I just saw what I saw on the scoreboard."
"I saw one angle, down the line, and from there, you could not, without a doubt, tell that it was a foul ball," said Blackmon. "So there must have been another angle. I can only hope. But I don't really think that made a big difference in the game."
On the other side, Brewers manager Craig Counsell spoke to his team's resilience, and how reliever
"You know, it's a punch that knocks you back a little bit, right? But Soria came out and has a good inning. We get back to the top of the order with [Christian] Yelich leading off, and just the toughness of his out makes you feel good about what's coming up that inning. We had Grandy coming up. We had lefties coming up what we knew was going to be right-handed pitching."
This contest was a perfect example of the condensed tension and anxiety that only comes with postseason baseball, and you'd better believe we'll see more of it for the next few weeks ...