PARRA MAKES RULE BY BLACK LOOK GOOD WITH 3 HITS
Two months into the season, with a roster full of suddenly streaking hitters, the job of filling out the daily lineup card continues to be a challenge for Rockies manager Bud Black.
The one near-constant: Hit a home run, play the next day.
“I do like that rule,” Black said Monday.
Against the Seattle Mariners, that meant Gerardo Parra started in left field. He went 3-for-4 against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday, including a three-run homer in the fourth inning. Parra responded with another threehit game, the second time in his career he recorded back-to-back three hits games.
With Parra in left field and Mark Reynolds at first base, it left Ian Desmond on the bench. The rotation among the three — Desmond plays first base and left field — has been a daily decision.
“We will continue to — I won’t say rotate guys — but guys will get their playing time,” Black said.
Reynolds has started 45 of 53 games this season, Parra 23 and Desmond 19. Desmond, though, missed the first month with a broken hand. Reynolds ranks near or among the top 10 in the National League for home runs, RBIs and batting average. Parra has the Rockies’ fourth-best OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage). And Desmond provides a unique versatility, offensively, with speed and contact and a power threat.
“Passing the ball,” Desmond said. “I’ve been on a lot of teams where there’s that level of pride where it’s like, ‘No, you can’t not play me today.’ But we have a great team and anybody at any point can strike.”
There is no formula, he said, for determining playing time and no set minimums. Black figures it out the old-fashioned way.
“You talk to players and say, ‘Hey how you doing?’ ” Black said. “How about that concept?”
Eighth Story homer.
In the Rockies’ 6-5 loss to Seattle on Monday, Trevor Story hit a leadoff laser into the right-field seats in the fifth to slice the Mariners’ lead to 6-3. It was Story’s eighth homer of the season, his second since coming off the disabled list May 23. Both homers were opposite-field shots.
“That’s big,” Story said. “If I am doing that, I am right where I want to be. I can let the ball get a little deeper, and I know I can trust my swing to carry the ball. That frees me up a little bit.”
Footnotes.
Charlie Blackmon’s solo homer with two outs was his 13th homer of the season. With two outs this season, the center fielder is hitting .462 (24for-52) with seven homers. … According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Rockies pitchers are 12-3 in May, joining the 2006 Marlins as the only team in the past 80 years to have 12 combined wins from rookie pitchers in a single month.