DENVER - Vinny Castilla knew there were plenty of expectations when he took over for injured stars Preston Wilson and Larry Walker in the middle of the Rockies lineup.
By wire services
Published May 18, 2004
"When Larry and Preston went down, and I was going to hit fourth, I had more responsibility, especially with the game on the line," Castilla said. "I was prepared for that physically and mentally."
The former Devil Ray proved that Monday when he hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning, completing the Rockies' comeback from a six-run deficit in their 7-6 victory over the Phillies.
"He's been huge. He's been huge with the glove, he's been huge with the bat, obviously," manager Clint Hurdle said. "He was a huge offseason acquisition for us."
Down 6-0 after three innings, the Rockies scored five in the seventh on homers by Matt Holliday and Charles Johnson.
In the ninth, Todd Helton drew a leadoff walk on four pitches from Tim Worrell and Castilla followed with his 10th homer.
"The first pitch, I thought was a ball. After that, you have to be able to swing at that pitch again," Castilla said of his third career walkoff homer. "He put another pitch pretty close and I had to put a good swing on it."
The home run was Castilla's 278th overall and 266th as a third baseman, breaking a tie with Brooks Robinson for ninth place at the position.
"I thought the ball stayed in, but then, I didn't get the ball far enough in," Worrell said of the pitch to Castilla, who finished with three hits and three RBIs.
Mike Lieberthal and Chase Utley each drove in three runs for the Phillies, who went 7-3 on their road trip.
TWINS 9, BLUE JAYS 5: Jacque Jones hit a tiebreaking home run in the ninth for visiting Minnesota.
Lew Ford and Torii Hunter also homered for the Twins, who have won six of seven.
After Hunter led off the ninth with a double, Jones hit a 1-and-1 pitch off Micheal Nakamura. Jones' seventh homer gave the Twins a 7-5 lead. Michael Cuddyer later scored on catcher Kevin Cash's error, and Cristian Guzman added a run-scoring single to make it 9-5.
Frank Menechino went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs for the Blue Jays, who have lost five of seven.
INDIANS 7, WHITE SOX 2: Victor Martinez had three RBIs, and Cliff Lee stayed unbeaten as host Cleveland won its fifth straight with a rain-delayed victory.
Martinez, whose 10 RBIs in his five previous games made him a co-winner of the league's player of the week award, hit a run-scoring double in the first. He added a two-run single in the second off Felix Diaz.
In 13 starts since Martinez was moved into the cleanup spot, the switch-hitting catcher is batting .333 (18-for-54) with 21 RBIs.
