They fired up the fountains of youth Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.
The Rockies captured a wet and wild 5-4 victory over the Padres on a two-out, 472-foot walk-off homer by 25-year-old outfielder Nolan Jones off Brent Honeywell.
The Rockies also got homers from rookies Ezequiel Tovar, 21, and Coco Montes, 26, who was making his big-league debut.
“It’s really freaking fun,” Jones said.
The Rockies certainly needed an injection of fun. They entered the game mired in a six-game losing streak and were 0-5 on the homestand. Had they lost to the Padres, they would have had an 0-6 homestand for the first time since 2012.
The game’s first hero was Ryan McMahon, who made like Roy Hobbs in “The Natural.” He tied the game, 4-4, leading off the ninth with a homer as the thunder rolled and the skies opened. McMahon smashed lefty Tom Cosgrove’s 0-2 slider 442 feet to right field, the ball bouncing off the third-deck facade.
Then came a 1 hour, 25-minute rain delay.
“It was crazy. I didn’t see the ball very good those first two pitches, it was really coming down,” said McMahon, who launched his 10th home run of the season.
The third baseman has a hit in 14 of his last 17 games and is slashing .382/.447/.750 with six homers, five doubles, one triple and 18 RBIs over that span.
Tovar began Sunday’s youth movement, hitting a solo home run in the first off veteran lefty Blake Snell, who allowed just one run on three hits with no walks and 12 strikeouts over seven innings.
Montes, who started at second base and got his first big-league hit in his first at-bat in the second inning, blasted a game-tying two-run homer in the eighth inning off Luis Garcia. Montes became the ninth Rockies player to homer in their major league debut, and the first since Sam Hilliard on Aug. 27, 2019, vs. Boston.
“It was awesome, and I couldn’t have drawn it up any better, ” Montes said. “It was perfect. I’m just so excited to be here and hopefully, I can just help the team keep winning games.”
But the Rockies almost blew the game in the top of the ninth. Justin Lawrence, their new closer, gave the lead back to San Diego. Lawrence walked Ha-Seong Kim, who advanced to second on Matt Carpenter’s single and sprinted to third when right-fielder Randal Grichuk misplayed the ball. Kim scored on Lawrence’s wild pitch.
But the Rockies were able to pull off one of their most satisfying wins of the season.
“Tovar has been gaining momentum,” manager Bud Black said. “Jones is off to a nice start hitting (.360) in his first 50 at-bats. And Coco, what a great debut.”
Before the rain and the drama, right-hander Dinelson Lamet provided Colorado with a decent enough start, giving up three runs on six hits over five innings. He struck out five, walked three and threw 91 pitches.
It was a marked improvement after Lamet’s first two starts for Colorado were lamentable. He failed to get past the third inning in either of them, giving up eight earned runs for a 12.00 ERA.
San Diego tied the game 1-1 in the third, taking advantage of a throwing error by Lamet. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off with a single, raced to third on Lamet’s errant pickoff attempt and scored on Juan Soto’s sacrifice fly.
The Padres made it 3-1 with a two-run homer by Jake Cronenworth in the fourth. The inning had the makings of a disaster for Lamet because the Padres loaded the bases after Cronenworth’s homer on singles by Rougned Odor and Trent Grisham and a walk by Tatis. Then Soto rocketed a ball straight into Tovar’s glove who double Tatis off first for the inning-ending double play.
Colorado begins a difficult 10-day, 10-game road trip on Monday in Boston. After three games against the Red Sox, the Rockies play four at Atlanta, followed by three at Cincinnati.
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