Rockies capture game delayed by rowdy fans
PHOENIX — In Troy Tulowitzki's view, Justin Upton was out of line not once but twice.
First, Upton stared down Jeff Francis, the winner in Colorado's 5-1 victory over Arizona in the opener of the NL championship series Thursday night, after getting plunked by a changeup in the seventh inning.
Then, he rolled his right shoulder into second baseman Kaz Matsui while trying to break up a double play, which resulted in an interference call that ignited an eight-minute delay when rowdy fans threw bottles onto the field.
Tulowitzki's anger at Upton wasn't for taking out Matsui.
"I always respect guys that go into second hard," the Rockies rookie shortstop said after Colorado's 18th win in 19 games. "Whether or not it was the right call, I'm not sure. But I didn't really have a problem with that."
Tulowitzki did take exception, however, to Upton staring down Francis, who outpitched Arizona ace Brandon Webb and allowed just one earned run on seven hits in 6X\c innings.
"There's a man on first, no one's out. It was a change-up. The last thing Jeff's trying to do is hit a guy," Tulowitzki said. "I just thought he stared him down a little bit too long."
Down 5-1, Arizona put runners at runners at first and second with no outs in the seventh. Augie Ojeda bounced to third baseman Garrett Atkins, who threw to second baseman Matsui.
Upton, running from first base, slid over second base and then rolled his right shoulder into Matsui's left leg, knocking the infielder to the ground. Second base umpire Larry Vanover immediately called Upton out for interference, resulting in a double play.
"I was just playing the game. I did what I was supposed to do," Upton said. "That's what you're taught to do when you slide is pop up."
Vanover wasn't buying that explanation.
"You had obvious intent on the part of the runner to break up the double play, and when it turns into intentional, that's when he's out for interference," he said.
Said Rockies manager Clint Hurdle: "It looked like a good, aggressive slide going in, and I thought he went out of his way to make contact."
The crowd at Chase Field disagreed and a few fans threw bottles onto the field from the upper deck, and then more followed far down the foul lines. Some of them landed near Rockies players, and crew chief Tim McClelland cleared the field as Hurdle gestured in pulling his team off the field.
"There comes a point in time when you need to make a point. Enough's enough," Hurdle said.
Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall said he did not know how many fans had been ejected or whether any arrests had been made. The team cut off alcohol sales immediately.
"Obviously we don't condone that," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said of the rowdy fans. "You don't want stuff being thrown on the field."
No replays of the disputed call were shown on the video board.
"It's too bad it became about the umpires," Hall said. "But I think that showed we don't have such an apathetic crowd, clearly. The crowd was obviously showing that they thought the umpires overreacted. And once it began to get out of hand, we did all we could do to slow that down and to bring it to a stop."
