DENVER – David Dahl came just a few inches away from his moment of glory.

The bottom of the ninth. Bases juiced. Home crowd on its feet, roaring at fever pitch.

He had already delivered a lead to his club earlier in the game, smashing a two-run double in the third on a deep liner to center field, getting his team on the board for the first time, making the score 2-1.

Then he did it again. It wasn’t quite as pretty, getting jammed hard on an inside fastball in the fifth with the game tied and Charlie Blackmon standing at third base. A loopy little flyball to shallow left, though, was enough for Blackmon to employ the team’s well-documented aggressiveness, tagging up and sprinting home to score run.

Three RBI. Two go-ahead hits.

And here he was again. Team behind by a run and a young man who has been through so many brilliant moments followed by rough patches—culminating in an entirely lost 2017 campaign—had a chance to be the unquestioned hero of the game. This was his moment.

And he did everything right.

He waited for his pitch. He hit a screaming, 106.5 mph line drive right up the middle. And the game of baseball crushed him.