Black ejected as Rockies collapse in historic fashion to Dodgers

The Colorado Rockies both blew it and were robbed on Tuesday, losing 11-9 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Rockies bullpen allowed seven runs in the ninth, on a pinch-hit Jason Heyward grand slam and a three-run home run, and yet Colorado should’ve been celebrating a win. No, not because they blew another huge lead in the ninth, but because a pitch before Teoscar Hernández took Victor Vodnik for a Dodger lead, the LA hitter swung at a pitch but was bailed out by a check swing call by Lance Barksdale. Bud Even up a run and down to a final strike, Bud Black knew it was a big call and was promptly ejected from the game for yelling obscenities.

A pitch later, the Dodgers led 11-9 and

The whole sequence is below—including a ticked-off Jake Cave, who later needed to be separated from Barksdale between innings and then after the game went final.

Absolute chaos in the 9th inning of the Rockies Dodgers game 😬

Down to his final strike, Teoscar Hernandez was called safe on a questionable half swing. Rockies manager Bud Black was ejected for arguing it.

Hernandez homered on the next pitch to give LA the lead. pic.twitter.com/iUgr1SqsTq

— Scotty Gange (@Scotty_G6) June 19, 2024

The blown lead in the ninth is the sixth time this season the Rockies have given up five or more runs in the ninth inning or later. No team in the history of baseball had ever done that more than four times in a single season before this year’s Denver Nine. And we’re not even at the halfway point, as the game dropped the Rockies to 25-48 through 73 games. It was also just the second time in the long history of the Dodgers they won a game when entering the ninth trailing by five or more, matching a June 25th effort from the 1929 club…

The very sour ending ruined an up-and-down night. Brenton Doyle had four hits including a home run and made one of the best catches of the year in robbing Shohei Ohtani. But that was only after Charlie Blackmon had to leave the game very early due to injury.

BRENTON DOYLE FULL EXTENSION TO ROB SHOHEI pic.twitter.com/JiPHVdLQVu

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 19, 2024

The loss may have felt the worst this season for the Rockies, considering the five-run late lead they held on the vaunted Dodgers combined with the brutal call. At least according to win probability, the Rockies had a 99.8% chance of winning in the bottom of the eighth. Instead, the Dodgers move to nine games out in front of the rest of the West.

holy wheeeee moly! pic.twitter.com/jN9nG2JblL

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 19, 2024

This was the quintessential 2024 Rockies loss:

* A transcendent performance from a young player (Brenton Doyle)
* Injury to a veteran (Charlie Blackmon, hamstring tightness)
* A bullpen meltdown
* Something bad happening to them beyond their control (the awful check-swing call)

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) June 19, 2024

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