The National League is much more wide open when it comes to the playoff race compared to the American League, and two teams that find themselves in the middle of it were jumping up and down at the end of their games on Thursday. First, the St. Louis Cardinals took the series from the Colorado Rockies with a 3-2 walk-off victory at Busch Stadium.
Jose Martinez came up as pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and hit a walk-off RBI single off of Wade Davis, handing the Rockies their first series loss since late June. The Rockies hadn't dropped a series since June 26th-28th against the San Francisco Giants. Greg Garcia scored the game-winning run after leading off the inning with a single, and then moved to third on Harrison Bader's single.
Martinez has been dealing with less playing time as of late, since Mike Matheny was fired on July 14th, but may have proven himself with his first-career walk-off RBI. This game-winning hit handed Davis his career-high sixth blow save in 36 chances this season. The Rockies were just a game out of the final National League playoff spot, but have now dropped three of four to the Cardinals. They will battle a very good Milwaukee Brewers team over the weekend, while St. Louis, who is just four games back in the playoff race, visit the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games beginning Friday.
Elsewhere, the first-place Philadelphia Phillies also enjoyed a walk-off victory on Thursday night, as they rallied from a 2-1 ninth-inning deficit for a 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins. After Nick Williams tied the game with an RBI groundout, Maikel Franco connected with a three-run, walk-off blast to send the fans at Citizens Bank Park in to a frenzy.
Franco's game-winner came off of reliever Kyle Barraclough, who dropped to 0-5 on the season. Philadelphia has now split the first 10 games of their season series with their division rivals, as they keep pace with the Atlanta Braves, who beat the New York Mets on Thursday. The Phillies still hold a half-game lead on the Braves for the top spot in the NL East, as they will continue this series with the Marlins all weekend long.
Jose Martinez came up as pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and hit a walk-off RBI single off of Wade Davis, handing the Rockies their first series loss since late June. The Rockies hadn't dropped a series since June 26th-28th against the San Francisco Giants. Greg Garcia scored the game-winning run after leading off the inning with a single, and then moved to third on Harrison Bader's single.
Martinez has been dealing with less playing time as of late, since Mike Matheny was fired on July 14th, but may have proven himself with his first-career walk-off RBI. This game-winning hit handed Davis his career-high sixth blow save in 36 chances this season. The Rockies were just a game out of the final National League playoff spot, but have now dropped three of four to the Cardinals. They will battle a very good Milwaukee Brewers team over the weekend, while St. Louis, who is just four games back in the playoff race, visit the Pittsburgh Pirates for three games beginning Friday.
Elsewhere, the first-place Philadelphia Phillies also enjoyed a walk-off victory on Thursday night, as they rallied from a 2-1 ninth-inning deficit for a 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins. After Nick Williams tied the game with an RBI groundout, Maikel Franco connected with a three-run, walk-off blast to send the fans at Citizens Bank Park in to a frenzy.
Franco's game-winner came off of reliever Kyle Barraclough, who dropped to 0-5 on the season. Philadelphia has now split the first 10 games of their season series with their division rivals, as they keep pace with the Atlanta Braves, who beat the New York Mets on Thursday. The Phillies still hold a half-game lead on the Braves for the top spot in the NL East, as they will continue this series with the Marlins all weekend long.
