Denver, CO
Sam Hilliard’s clutch homer, Ezequiel Tovar’s walk-off send Rockies to win over Red Sox in 12 innings
The Rockies won as a visitor in their own ballpark on Monday at Fenway Park West.
In front of a pro-Boston gathering of 35,261 at Coors Field, Colorado outlasted the Red Sox 9-8 in 12 innings to claim the series opener. LoDo rising star Ezequiel Tovar roped the walk-off single to improve the Rockies to 6-4 in extras this year and send the red-clad crowd streaming toward the exits.
“There were a lot of Sox fans there, and at times, it felt like an away game,” Sam Hilliard said. “But we were resilient tonight… Guys coming out of the bullpen are doing a great job right now, making big pitches, and we had a pass-the-baton mentality.
“… We’re not going to lie down (in the second half). We feel like we can compete and beat anybody, and I think we’re been showing that a little bit lately by playing spoiler or whatever you want to call it.”
Prior to Tovar’s hit that lifted Colorado to its seventh walk-off win this year, the Rockies blew two leads and staged a comeback of their own to tie the game in the 10th on Hilliard’s two-run homer in a dramatic interleague affair.
“It was a great game, and a good win,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “It was going to be a tough loss for whoever lost that one, but our guys endured.”
After a couple of quiet innings to open the game, Colorado jumped out to a significant lead in the third.
In that frame, rookie Aaron Schunk’s rollover grounder down the third base line hit the bag, resulting in an infield single and jump-starting a big inning. Charlie Blackmon followed with a two-run homer to right on a hanging slider by Tanner Houck.
Tovar then had a swinging bunt. And after Brenton Doyle’s RBI double and Michael Toglia’s RBI single added two more runs, the first-time All-Star Houck was down 4-0.
“We took advantage of some balls up in the zone,” Black said.
But the four-run lead, and Austin Gomber’s cruise control, couldn’t hold.
The Red Sox broke through with four runs of their own in the fifth, tying the game with a pair of two-out swings. Jamie Westbrook’s three-run homer was the backbreaker, then All-Star Game MVP Jarren Duran blasted a triple and Rob Refsnyder’s single through the left side tied the game.
Gomber finished with four earned on six hits through 5 2/3, with one walk and five strikeouts. The southpaw said his final stat line didn’t accurately reflect how comfortable he felt on the mound and his recent positive trajectory.
“I made one bad pitch and gave up a three-run homer, but that’s the best I’ve thrown the ball since 2021,” Gomber said. “I haven’t had that good of stuff in three-plus years. It sucks to make a mistake on the homer, but if I can take that (stuff) every five days, I’ll be fine. The past couple weeks is the livest my arm’s felt in a couple years.”
The Rockies re-took the lead in the seventh following a decidedly Red Sox rendition of Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Brendan Rodgers singled against Josh Winckowski, then Jacob Stallings’ two-out double down the right field line scored Rodgers to make it 5-4.
Boston didn’t waste time squaring the score back up, as Connor Wong led off the eighth with an arching homer to right off southpaw Jalen Beeks that just cleared the out-of-town scoreboard. That energized the pro-Boston crowd on hand, but the Red Sox failed to grab the lead with further traffic when Beeks induced an inning-ending double play.
The Red Sox appeared to have the final say with two runs off Victor Vodnik in the 10th, thanks to Dominic Smith’s leadoff RBI double to score the California runner and then Rafael Devers’ sacrifice fly a couple of batters later. But Hilliard came through with a two-run dinger in the bottom of the inning off right-hander Zack Kelly. Hilliard’s hit sailed 450 feet into the Boston bullpen to tie the game 7-7.
“I went up there looking for a changeup, which is the pitch I hit out,” Hilliard said. “My swing probably got a little too big at first. On 0-1, he pretty much threw the same pitch but a little bit lower, more into the loop of my swing. Before that, I was telling myself to shorten up and not do too much. I was able to put the barrel on it and it went, so it’s good to see an adjustment pay off like that mid at-bat.”
Justin Lawrence worked out of a jam in the 11th, getting a double-play ball and then inducing another groundout to end the inning. But the Rockies left runners on second and third in the bottom of the inning as right-hander Greg Weissert stymied them. At the conclusion of the frame, Red Sox manager Alex Cora was ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Mark Wegner.
“Lawrence’s fastball was crispy tonight (topping out at 97.1 mph), and a little hotter than what we saw prior to the All-Star break,” Black said. “He also had a couple good breaking balls.”
Boston re-took the lead in the 12th via a two-out RBI single off Lawrence by Wilyer Abreu. In the bottom of the inning, Jake Cave scored Rodgers on a single that turned into a double on an error by Tyler O’Neil in left field. Then, an intentional walk to Stallings, a sacrifice bunt by Hilliard and an intentional walk to Schunk set up Tovar’s walk-off single off ex-Rockie Chase Anderson.
Tovar missed Sunday’s series finale against the Giants due to illness, and was still sick on Monday as he returned to the lineup to deliver his third career walk-off hit.
“That was a little Michael Jordan flu game for Tovar tonight to get the game-winning knock,” Hilliard said. “He had (three) knocks on the night and you could just tell he was grinding.”
Tuesday’s pitching matchup
Rockies LHP Ty Blach (3-5, 5.46 ERA) vs. Red Sox TBA
6:40 p.m. Tuesday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
After German Marquez landed on the injured list on Monday with right elbow inflammation, Blach likely gets the nod in his 10th start of the season. Blach got hit around in his last start, when the Dodgers tagged him for five runs on 10 hits with three homers in a loss at Coors Field on June 20. He also hasn’t been very good in relief lately, with a 8.31 ERA in three June outings. Unfamiliarity will be on the southpaw’s side as he makes just his second career start against Boston, and only three current Red Sox have faced him.
Pitching probables
Wednesday: Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (6-7, 4.15) vs. Red Sox TBA, 1:10 p.m.
Thursday: Off
Friday: Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (2-3, 5.63) at Giants TBA, 8:15 p.m.
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Originally Published:
Long-running Denver lunch spot Mr. Lucky’s Sandwiches, which closed in December after Denver’s Department of Finance seized its two locations, owes more than $40,000 in unpaid taxes, according to the city agency. Galen Juracek, who owns the shops in Capitol Hill and the Highland neighborhood, specifically owes $40,556.11.
Multiple notices posted to the door of Mr. Lucky’s Capitol Hill location showed that the city demanded payment for the back taxes starting in July. But the city’s “distraint warrant” — a legal notice that a business owner owes a specific amount, and that the business could be seized if they don’t pay it — notes the shops, at 711 E. 6th Ave. and 3326 Tejon St., were forced to close on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
Mr. Lucky’s had already decided it would close its two locations by the end of 2025, said Laura Swartz, communications director for the Department of Finance. But the city’s seizure of the business shows that it had not been keeping up on basic requirements, with a $39,956 bill for unpaid sales taxes and $600.11 in “occupational privilege” taxes, which fund local services and allow a business to operate within a specific area.
“When businesses charge customers sales tax but then do not submit that sales tax to the city, the city is responsible for becoming involved,” she said in an email to The Denver Post
Juracek did not respond to multiple phone calls from The Denver Post requesting comment. His business, which is described on its website as a “go-to spot for handcrafted sandwiches since 1999, roasting our meats in-house and making every bite unforgettable,” is listed on the documents as G&J Concepts.
Westword last month reported that Mr. Lucky’s was closing because Juracek decided to move on from the food industry for personal reasons. “Life is about timing,” he told the publication, saying the leases on his spaces were ending.
City documents show that his unpaid taxes go back at least to this summer. He purchased the business, which opened in 1999, in 2017 and opened the second location in 2019.
“We’re not a chain, but we also work very hard to avoid the $20 sandwich and becoming the place people think twice about because of the price point,” Juracek told The Denver Post in 2023. “We can fulfill your basic needs for $6. And if money is no object, we can sell you a $17 sandwich.”
A note written on a brown paper bag, and posted to the Capitol Hill location’s door last month, reads: “We are closed for the day! Sorry.”
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Denver police are searching for suspects in a Saturday night parking lot shooting that killed a 16-year-old and wounded three men, at least one of whom is not expected to survive, according to the agency.
Officers responded to the shooting in the 10100 block of East Hampden Avenue about 10:30 p.m. Saturday, near where East Hampden intersects South Galena Street, according to an alert from the Denver Police Department.
Police said a group of people had gathered in a parking lot on the edge of the city’s Kennedy neighborhood to celebrate the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro when the shooting happened.
Paramedics took one victim to a hospital, and two others were taken to the hospital in private vehicles, police said. A fourth victim, identified by police as 16-year-old William Rodriguez Salas, was dropped off near Iliff Avenue and South Havana Street, where he died from his wounds.
At least one of the three victims taken to hospitals — a 26-year-old man, a 29-year-old man and a 33-year-old man — is not expected to survive, police said Tuesday. One man was in critical condition Sunday night, one was in serious condition and one was treated for a graze wound and released.
No suspects had been identified publicly or arrested as of Tuesday afternoon.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.
This is a developing story and may be updated.
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The new year in Colorado brought new restrictions for people who vape in Denver. As of January 1, a voter-approved ban on flavored nicotine products is now in effect in Denver, prohibiting the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and vaping products within city limits.
Just outside the Denver border, vape shops say they’re already feeling the ripple effects.
At Tokerz Head Shop in Aurora, located about a block and a half from the Denver city line, owner Gordon McMillon says customers are beginning to trickle in from Denver.
“I was in shock it passed, to be honest,” McMillon said. “Just because of how many people vape in Denver. But we’re hoping to take care of everybody that doesn’t get their needs met over there anymore.”
One of those customers is Justin Morrison, who lives in the Denver area and vapes daily. He stopped by the Aurora shop a day after the ban went into place.
Morrison says the ban won’t stop him from vaping. It will just change where he buys his products.
“I’m going to have to come all the way to Aurora to get them,” he said. “It’s pretty inconvenient. I smoke flavored vapes every day.”
The goal of the ban, according to public health advocates, is to reduce youth vaping.
Morrison said flavored vapes helped him quit smoking cigarettes, an argument frequently raised by adult users and vape retailers who oppose flavor bans.
“It helped tremendously,” he said. “I stopped liking the flavor of cigarettes. The taste was nasty, the smell was nasty. I switched all the way over to vapes, and it helped me stop smoking cigarettes completely.”
McMillon worries bans like Denver’s could push some former smokers back to cigarettes.
“If they can’t get their vapes, some will go back to cigarettes, for sure,” he said. “I’ve asked people myself, and it’s about 50-50.”
While McMillon acknowledges it will bring more business to shops outside Denver, he says the ban wasn’t something he wanted.
“Even if it helps me over here in Aurora, I’m against it,” he said. “I feel like adults should have the rights if they want to vape or not.”
More than 500 retailers in Denver removed their flavored products. For many, they accounted for the majority of their sales. Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment says it will begin issuing fines and suspensions to retailers found selling flavored tobacco products.
Both McMillan and Morrison say they’re concerned the ban could spread to other cities. For now, Aurora vape shops remain legal alternatives for Denver customers.
Despite the added drive, Morrison says quitting isn’t on the table.
“It’s an addiction. You’re going to find a way to get it. That’s why I don’t see the point of banning it here,” Morrison said.
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