Trevor’s tweaks: It’s another Story

The obstacle course of the Rockies’ batting order has presented several stumbling blocks and more than one easy pass over the past two months. The key for opposing pitchers is to somehow survive Nolan Arenado with minimal damage, then take your chances on the rest.

On Wednesday at Coors Field, that plan put Trevor Story on the spot. The Miami Marlins twice walked Arenado intentionally to bring Story, Colorado’s secondyear shortstop, to the plate in the cleanup spot.

And twice Story hit two-run line drives.

“Sometimes you take it personally,” Story said. “It gives you a little extra incentive to get those guys in.”

In the Rockies’ 15-9 marathon victory, Story doubled, singled, walked, scored two runs and knocked in four more. He collected seven RBIs in Colorado’s past two games, both victories that moved it ever closer to a National League wild-card berth.

The recurring theme of the Rockies failing to hit with runners in scoring position in September has grown tiresome. The key to eliminating the “RISP flu,” as Carlos Gonzalez called it, has centered on Story.

When Story gets at least one hit with runners in scoring position, the Rockies are 21-9 this season.

“Nolan is pretty much automatic when he comes up with somebody on base. So I don’t blame them for walking him,” Story said. “But it’s my turn, and it’s my job to get those guys in there. I just tried to take my swing, and I was able to hit a couple balls hard.”

Story’s batting average dipped to .199 on June 1 as he suffered through sophomore struggles with too many strikeouts and popups. He had powered his way through a homer-heavy rookie season with 27 homers over just 97 games before a torn ligament in his left thumb ended his season. But his second season grew difficult.

The Rockies identified his issues. Story’s swing path was too bottom-up, causing too many flyballs. That path served him well his rookie season when more solid contact led to more home runs early in counts. But in his second season, pitchers threw around him early, then attacked him in two-strike counts. And he lost focus, leading to an NL-high 188 strikeouts.

Colorado’s hitting coaches, Duane Espy and Jeff Salazar, tinkered with Story’s stance and drilled him on the benefits of contact with two strikes.

“We’ve seen incremental changes,” Colorado manager Bud Black said. “In his at-bats, mechanically, and philosophically, what he’s thinking about, with his twostrike approach. All these things are starting to show up in games.”

Against the Marlins, those changes resulted in line drives — a hard shot to center field in the second inning that scored Jonathan Lucroy and Charlie Blackmon, and a ripped liner to the leftfield corner in the fourth that brought home DJ LeMahieu and Arenado. Both hits came in twostrike counts.

Story is now hitting .235 with 23 home runs and 80 RBIs — four more than his rookie RBI total.

“When I’m getting ready to hit, I’m not thinking too much, not over-analyzing, just really try to let my natural ability play out,” Story said. “I’ve said it probably a million times: It’s a game of ups and downs and you won’t always feel great. But having a good attitude has helped me for sure.”