LeMahieu's clutch slam wasted in heartbreaker

ANAHEIM -- With September arriving soon, the Rockies are learning that first place will not be won over so easily.
On a night when DJ LeMahieu appeared to be the hero with a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning, the Rockies bullpen gave up five runs in the bottom of the same frame and Colorado fell, 10-7, in an Interleague matchup with the Angels.
The Rockies were just four outs from moving back into a first-place tie in the National League West, but Eric Young Jr. delivered a two-run single off Seunghwan Oh to put the Angels on top. One batter later, a Trevor Story throwing error on a ground ball by David Fletcher allowed two more runs to score.

"This one didn't go our way, but we're going to come back tomorrow with a nice level of intensity as we have all year," manager Bud Black said. "That's sort of the strength of our team is our resiliency, our resolve, our everyday effort. We'll get after them tomorrow."
As far as Black is concerned, Story is as good as any shortstop in the league, but on a night that didn't come together for the Rockies, neither did his late play on the infield.
Story believes that because the Rockies endure hard-luck losses on occasion at offensive-oriented Coors Field, they are better equipped to handle a disappointing defeat like what happened Monday.
"I think so, and we definitely know it won't be easy," Story said. "There are nights like tonight where we feel like we sealed a win and it kind of gets taken back. But that's baseball, and there will be games like on both sides. But it will be fine."
The Rockies' nine-game winning streak when Jon Gray started came to an end -- not that the right-hander had a whole lot to do with things once the lead starting changing hands in the late innings.
Gray gave up five runs on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings. He held an early 2-0 lead and had retired the first nine Angels batters before giving up an RBI single to Mike Trout and a three-run home run to Shohei Ohtani in the fourth inning.
"It wasn't really great all around, but if I could take it back I would take back that one pitch [to Ohtani]," Gray said. "It just can't happen. It was too dangerous of a pitch to throw, especially in that location. I'm kind of ticked off about that, really."
The Angels appeared to gift wrap the victory for the Rockies, giving up three walks in front of LeMahieu's slam. Justin Anderson walked Ian Desmond, while Williams Jerez walked both David Dahl and pinch-hitter Chris Iannetta.
LeMahieu's go-ahead drive came off Jim Johnson and gave him a career-best 12 home runs this season. It was the sixth go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning or later in Rockies history.
But the lead did not hold as Rockies relievers walked five Angels batters in the eighth to tie a franchise record for most in a single inning.

"It was a back-and-forth game for sure and we had some opportunities early and couldn't cash them in," said Black, whose team left 10 runners on base and went 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position. "We got the big swing from DJ, which was awesome, and they sort of let us back in with some walks and we let them back in with walks."
The Rockies entered with an NL-best 33-17 record since June 28, but have now lost three of their last four games and have dropped consecutive contests for the first time since losing three consecutive from Aug. 7-9.
Johnson (5-3) ended up earning the victory. Rockies reliever Adam Ottavino (6-3) was charged with four eighth-inning runs (three earned) while recording just two outs.
Trout hit a home run in the sixth inning off Gray, his 31st of the season. The Rockies' Tony Wolters hit a home run in the third inning, his third.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Gray had just one strikeout, but it was the 500th of his career when he got rookie Taylor Ward swinging in the third inning. His 500 strikeouts are eighth most in franchise history.

SOUND SMART
With a steal of second base in the second inning, Story became the first Rockies player with 20 home runs and 20 steals in a season since Carlos González in 2013. Gonzalez did it in four consecutive seasons, starting in 2009. Matt Holliday also accomplished the feat in 2008. It is the 11th 20/20 season in Rockies history.
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
One way to make sure the defense doesn't catch your line drive is to knock off a glove if you can. The Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez crushed a liner in the third inning that ripped the glove away from Angels first baseman Albert Pujols. Statcast™ recorded the exit velocity at 106 mph. The glove and the ball both ended up on the grass beyond the infield, and Gonzalez had himself a single. More >>

HE SAID IT
"I think everybody in here, we know that was just a thing that happens. It's not us. We just have to get back to being ourselves. It should be as easy as that and we'll start playing some good ball again." -- Gray, when asked if the Rockies are better equipped to deal with heartbreaking defeats
UP NEXT
Left-hander Kyle Freeland, who has given up two earned runs or less in each of his last four starts, will take the mound Tuesday against the Angels at 8:07 p.m. MT. He has a 3.58 ERA in 14 road starts this season and will be facing the Angels for the first time. Noé Ramirez, who got the save for the Angels Monday, will start Tuesday on a bullpen day.