DENVER — Rockies Report, Game 153:

ROCKIES BOTTOM LINE: Rookie Blaine Crim, a September 12 call-up who joined the Rockies organization as a waiver claim from the Texas Rangers on Aug. 3, continued his surprising start with a pair of sacrifice flies and a hit in four plate appearances as the Rockies finally got a win in their last homestand, defeating the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 7-6 on Friday night.

Crim has 9 RBI in seven games since joining the Rockies, posting a .280/.286/.680 line.

Two pitches after Crim’s second sacrifice fly in the fifth inning brought the Rockies back within 6-4, Brenton Doyle singled to drive in Mickey Moniak, who had reached base with a single earlier in the inning. Another run scored when center fielder Bryce Deodosio struggled to corral the ball, allowing Doyle to reach second.

Four pitches and a Doyle stolen base later, Ezequiel Tovar brought home Doyle with the Rockies’ third sacrifice fly of the night for the deciding run, capping a four-run fifth that allowed Bradley Blalock to earn his second major-league win despite allowing six earned runs over five innings.

SAFE‼️ pic.twitter.com/smMXKDFhh3

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) September 20, 2025

The Rockies’ bullpen, maligned throughout the month, came up big Friday night. Given a 7-6 lead after five innings, Jaden Hill, Juan Mejia, Jimmy Herget and Victor Vodnik carried the Rox the rest of the way with four shutout innings.

A sellout crowd of 47,587 watched the game, drawn in part by the fireworks display that followed the contest as part of the festivities to commemorate the final home series of the season.

Despite the Rockies’ near-historic struggles — as they sit one loss away from being the National League’s worst team since the 1962 expansion New York Mets, who for six decades stood as the gold standard for baseball futility — the team has averaged 29,767 per home game heading into Friday night, an average certain to rise this weekend with another fireworks game on tap Saturday and a fan-appreciation day set for the home finale Sunday afternoon.

Friday night’s win was Colorado’s 42nd, guaranteeing that the Rox will avoid the ignominy of finishing with the same number of wins as last year’s Chicago White Sox, who set a modern-era record with 121 losses.

ROCKIES STARTER’S REPORT

The double play was Blalock’s best friend.

In danger of absorbing another crooked number in the line score after giving up three runs via a pair of homers in the second inning, Blalock extricated himself from a pair of jams set up by leadoff singles by inducing ground balls at the perfect time — a 4-6-3 to get out of the third inning and a 5-4-3 to escape the fourth inning.

No such relief came in the fifth inning, as the first three Angels reached base via a walk, a single and a double, leading to three runs.

But once Tyler Freeman, Moniak and Goodman lead off the fifth inning by reaching base, not only was Blalock off the hook, but he had his second career win, with his first coming on July 22.

The longball remains a bugaboo for Blalock; he’s now given up 10 homers in his last five starts and overall has a HR/9 rate of 2.62 this season, including 3.36 at Coors Field.

BITS AND PIECES

IT WAS DECIDED FOR THE ROCKIES WHEN: Vodnik won a 10-pitch duel with Luis Rengifo, getting him to chase a 98.5-MPH fastball at the top of the strike zone for the final strike and out of the night.

NUMBER TO NOTE: 3 — Sacrifice flies for the Rockies, which is tied with 15 other games for the second-most in a single game in club history. They last had three sac flies on June 30, 2024 against the Chicago White Sox.

WHAT’S NEXT: Germán Márquez makes his final home start of the season in Game Two of the series. First pitch Saturday night is at 6:10 p.m. MDT.