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Kerkering threw four pitches, three of them being fastballs, to get the final two outs on force outs to Sosa at short. He came back out for a one-two-three seventh inning, saving an extra arm from the bullpen.

Jeff Hoffman pitched a harmless eighth before José Alvarado came in for the ninth.

Alvarado came into this game with a 1.31 ERA in 22 games after opening day. He has been as elite as any of the other arms in the bullpen. He struck out Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck without any issues.

Jacob Stallings sat a first-pitch fastball and Alvarado tried to steal a strike, Stallings didn’t miss it.

We got free baseball in Denver. Bryson Stott was the ghost runner and Brandon Marsh hit for Sosa. Marsh struck out on a Nick Mears curveball for the first out. Whit Merrifield worked a tough seven-pitch walk and Kody Clemens hit a bloop single into center field, it was so high that Stott had to hold at second so he couldn’t score.

The top of the order came up, Kyle Schwarber took a high curveball that barely landed in the strike zone for out number two and JT Realmuto punched a grounder right at first baseman Elehuris Montero.

José Ruiz came in to pitch the tenth inning of a tie game, as tough of a scenario as any reliever can walk into.

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The Phillies intentionally walked Elias Díaz with a base open. Kris Bryant struck out on a high fastball. Montero grounded into an easy double play at short but Kody Clemens’s throw was so wide and so bad that it went past Alec Bohm at first but bounced right off the wall in foul territory so Brendon Rodgers couldn’t score.

Ruiz was able to work out of it with a flyout to right field from Brenton Doyle.

Tyler Kinley came in for the eleventh inning with Johan Rojas leading off in the three-hole, which was originally Harper’s spot. He tried to bunt Realmuto over but fouled off both tries. He worked a promising two-strike at-bat with a couple of foul balls but Kinley threw a fastball right down the middle that Rojas didn’t pick up.

Alec Bohm struck out on three pitches and Castellanos rolled over to shortstop.

Gregory Soto was now tasked with trying to hold the ghost runner. Jordan Beck was intentionally walked this time to bring up Jake Cave.

He also tried to bunt but got himself into two strikes before Soto was able to get him to chase a slider. Ryan McMahon walked on five pitches and Ezequiel Tovar got a chance with the bases loaded.

Soto hung a cutter and Tovar pulled it down the left field line to send everyone home. The Phillies drop to 37-15 with Aaron Nola getting the ball tomorrow.

The Philadelphia Phillies traveled to the Rocky Mountains to face the second-most dysfunctional organization in Colorado.

The Rockies come into this game with the worst record in the National League and feature former Phillie Jake Cave. That’s about it.

Not much happened through five innings outside of one of the weirdest ejections you’ll see this year. Bryce Harper took a sinker below the zone that was called a strike and didn’t seem to enjoy it.

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After he struck out on a Ty Blach curveball, the broadcast showed him having a discussion, with no yelling or screaming, before he was ejected.

So instead, Johan Rojas became the three-hole hitter, which ended up coming back to bite them later on.

After Blach and Cristopher Sánchez battled for four scoreless innings, the Phillies offense woke up.

Nick Castellanos got a cutter right down the middle and didn’t miss out on straight-away center field to give them a 1-0. Edmundo Sosa followed that up by pulling an inner-half sinker out to left field to make it 2-0.

Outside of that, Blach had his way with the Phillies lineup. He allowed just five hits through six and two-thirds. He allowed a few hard-hit balls for outs but he only allowed an average exit velocity of 88.1 miles-per-hour so he wasn’t super lucky either.

In the bottom half of the fifth, Hunter Goodman took a hanging slider to straightaway center field for a one-out double.

Sánchez’s changeup caught the plate a little too much tonight (something that happens to a lot of pitchers in Coors) and wasn’t able to get it down against Alan Trejo, who lined a single into center to put runners on first and third.

Ezequiel Tovar then hit a down and away changeup into center field to make it 2-1.

Sánchez worked out of the jam but found himself into a little more trouble in the sixth with a single by Kris Bryant and a walk from Brenton Doyle. Rob Thomson opted to pull Sanchez early and go with Orion Kerkering.