GAME-SAVING HOME RUN LIT FIRE UNDER ROCKIES
It was June 28, and the reeling Rockies — then a season-worst eight games back in the division and four games under .500 — weren’t just about to get swept by the Giants in San Francisco. They were three outs from a defeat which felt like the beginning of the end to Colorado’s once-promising season, one marred by underperforming bats, inconsistent starting pitching and shoddy bullpen work.
Then, with hope in short supply around the Colorado fan base, DJ LeMahieu stepped to the plate and reversed the club’s first-half fortunes. His clutch two-run dinger in the ninth inning that afternoon gave the Rockies a 9-8 victory and provided the spark for Colorado’s surge heading into the all-star break.
Making the second baseman’s home run even more auspicious was the fact it followed a bad outing from the usually steadfast Adam Ottavino, who’s been as sure of a bet as the shaky Colorado bullpen has had this season. He surrendered a season-high three hits while giving up two runs and the lead, so he wasn’t shy in doling out a big hug to LeMahieu in the Rockies’ clubhouse after the game.
That season-shifting win at AT&T Park was a baseball case of Murphy’s Law, disproved. After lackluster offense doomed them in the first two games of the series, the Rockies were surely on their way to getting swept after their best reliever blew the hold. Throughout
that month, the team was finding all sorts of different ways to lose, and an uncharacteristic performance from Ottavino seemed like the next predictable gut punch.
Luckily, LeMahieu’s swing saved the Rockies from that slippery slope. But in baseball, as in poetry, a spark is only as important as the context which follows it. So far, with a 13-3 run to close the first half and a rotation that has steadied with the best collective ERA in baseball (2.63) over that span, the Rockies are spinning the narrative in their favor.
“We’re going into the second half playing meaningful games,” third baseman Nolan Arenado said. “For a while there, it looked like it was getting away from us, but to be (two games) back right now is a really good feeling.”
The second half will require that solid starting pitching trend to continue, while the offense needs to continue its escalating pace. The biggest hole remains in the bullpen, where Colorado has shown improvement but is still searching for more dependable bridges to — and alternative options on rest days from — setup man Ottavino and closer Wade Davis, who is tied for the National League lead with 27 saves.
Even with the question marks, though, the building sense of momentum since that LeMahieu longball that was hit June 28 can’t be overlooked. It’s a momentum which swelled even more with Trevor Story’s walk-off home run against Seattle that sent Colorado into the break with a sweep of one of the American League’s best teams, and the Rockies look to carry it into the second half with the start of Friday’s three-game set in Arizona.
“I’m really proud of the way we finished up — we pitched well, we hit, we did everything (well) at the same time together,” center fielder Charlie Blackmon told the MLB Network during batting practice before the All-Star Game in Washington. “That’s characteristic of good teams, and if we do that in the second half, we’re going to be fine.”