Ruiz's clutch double in the ninth tied the game at three-all.
Cliff Lee didn't get his 11th win Wednesday night, but he pitched well enough to keep the Phillies in the game long enough for them to walk-off with their 56th win of the season.
With two outs, Chase Utley got all of a pitch from Colorado starter Juan Nicasio in the bottom of the first to put the Phillies up 1-0, but the lead wouldn't last long.
Lee looked decent enough in throwing a scoreless inning in the top of the first, but Wilin Rosario closed the gap with his own solo homer on the first pitch of the second inning, knotting it up at 1. Nolan Arenado and Jordan Pacheco followed Rosario's blast with consecutive singles, and after outs by the next two players, Dexter Fowler came up and managed to punch a base hit into left to score Arenado, putting the Rockies ahead 2-1. Pacheco tried making a run for home as well, but was thrown out at the plate on a strong throw by Domonic Brown.
In the bottom of the second, Darin Ruf lead off the inning with a single, and reached third after John Mayberry Jr.'s two-out double, but was stranded after Lee struck out to end the inning.
Lee pitched a scoreless top of the third, aided when Michael Cuddyer grounded into a double play to short. Nicasio retired the Phils in short order in the bottom of the frame.
Lee allowed just one hit in the next two innings, a two-out double by Fowler. In the bottom of the fifth, Mayberry led off with a double to left field. Lee then attempted a bunt, and reached first on a throwing error by Pacheco, playing catcher while Rosario filled in at first for usual first baseman Todd Helton. Mayberry took advantage of the opportunity and beat the throw to make it safely to third, and Jimmy Rollins followed up with a walk to load the bases with one out. Michael Young grounded into a double play at shortstop, but the play took long enough to allow Mayberry to score and tie the game at two. Utley fouled out to end the inning.
The Phillies got another chance to take the lead in the sixth, getting men on first and second with two outs off Nicasio, but he was pulled immediately after Erik Kratz's two-out single in favor of Wilton Lopez, who struck out Mayberry to end the threat.
The seventh inning yielded a hit apiece for both squads, though each runner was stranded. Roger Bernadina, the recently-signed former Washington Nationals outfielder, got his first at-bat for the Phillies in the seventh and flew out to right. Rollins was stranded at second after his one-out double.
Things looked grim for the Phillies in the eighth when Justin DeFratus relieved Lee and hit Charlie Blackmon, the first batter of the inning. Troy Tulowitzki followed with a strikeout, but Michael Cuddyer hit a single to left far enough to move Blackmon to third. With two outs, Arenado singled to right, scoring Blackmon, though Ruf threw out Cuddyer at third to end the inning.
The bottom of the eighth saw the Phillies go down in order to Colorado's Rex Brothers, while Jake Diekman (1-3) struck out two in a perfect top of the ninth.
So, here the Phillies stood, in the bottom of the ninth, with just two runs between them and victory. That is, IF they could manage to score the runs, and as we have learned over the course of this disappointing season, that's no sure thing.
Rafael Bettancourt was called in to close out the games for the Rox, up 3-2 and facing Kratz to lead off the inning. Kratz hit a double to left that was so close to being caught. Casper Wells was brought in to pinch-run for the catcher, and moved to third on Mayberry's grounder to second. Carlos Ruiz, slumping for much of the season, came in to hit for Diekman and delivered a one-out double to score Wells and tie the game at three.
The Rockies then made a curious decision when they walked Rollins to get to Young. Rollins had doubled earlier, but he's not exactly swinging a hot bat lately, while Young has been fairly consistent all season. Sure enough, with men on first and second, Young hit a ball to the left field wall to score Ruiz and win it for the Phils, 4-3, in the bottom of the ninth.Post-game interviewer Gregg Murphy was pied to the face along with Young afterwards.
It was great to get a rare walk-off win, despite several of the team's season-long flaws being evident throughout. In the middle innings, John Mayberry and Domonic Brown a failure to communicate when tracking down a fly ball to left, left center field that saw the two collide and allow the ball to land for a hit. What was worse, Brown accidentally knocked the ball out of Mayberry's hand while trying to recover from the mistake. It was really a comedy of errors, though neither would be blamed on the score sheet for it.
Both teams also stranded a lot of men on base, scoring a combined 7 of 24 total baserunners (the Phillies themselves went 4 for 13). It has been a problem for them all season, but at least this time it did not cost them.
Lee went seven innings, striking out six and walking none, and allowing two runs on nine hits. Rosario's homer in the second was the 17th allowed by Lee to a right-handed batter this season.
The Phillies play the final game of this four game set with the Rockies tomorrow at 7:05 as Colorado's Chad Bettis is slated to start opposite Kyle Kendrick with a chance for a series split. The Phillies have won three of their last four.
