It was fast approaching 10 p.m., the clubhouse quickly emptying, when l’il Jackson Holliday strode up to bat. His famous father, Matt, threw a fastball and the 2-year-old crushed the pitch. He turned to Garrett Atkins and asked, “Do you like that?”
There was little not to enjoy on a warm Saturday evening as the Rockies connected their future to their past, belting out a 12-9 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“A few years back you expected games like this every night,” said reliever Tom Martin, author of the game’s two biggest outs in the sixth. “It’s hard to figure out why something like this finally happens.”
Thirty minutes afterward, the Rockies conceded it was easier to appreciate the win than explain it. It snapped a five-game losing streak against the Dodgers, left them within arm’s reach (3 1/2 games back) of the free-falling Diamondbacks and marked the disappearance of Coors Light Field. At least for one night.
Too often the past two weeks, Jackson’s mash might have stood as the Rockies’ best swing. This isn’t pointed out as gratuitous cruelty. Quite the opposite.
It helps explain why an announced crowd of 35,557 fans – the third-largest since opening day – was so delirious with praise. The dam broke, the flower bloomed, the mime spoke.
With one first-inning swing by Atkins, the Rockies matched their run total in their previous four games against the Dodgers. The message was sent. The Rockies were going to finish this homestand, losing record or not, with purpose.
“Hits have been hard to come by, especially against them, so it was nice to see,” said Atkins, his home run erasing a three-run deficit. “You always want to be able to jump on a team early.”
What made this game so different is the clubs traded punches. By the fourth inning, every Dodger in the starting lineup had reached by hit or walk against Jason Jennings. And Jennings got the win.
“It was definitely a battle from the first pitch,” said Jennings, who improved to 4-6 with a 4.73 ERA. “The offense bailed me out big-time.”
If Jennings’ night was difficult, Brett Tomko’s amounted to eating tacks. He squandered two three-run cushions and was unable to escape the fourth inning. That’s when the Rockies posted four runs on four hits, including a two-RBI triple from shortstop Omar Quintanilla.
“This is the place I had heard about,” Quintanilla said. “There were hits falling all over the place.”
The problem with the Rockies had been the way they were losing, an unchanging style of impatient at-bats, few walks and lacking timely hits. After Martin doused a Dodgers’ sixth-inning rally, inducing a double play, the game officially went old-school.
Facing left-hander Joe Beimel, Todd Helton bare-knuckled a single into left field, scoring the deciding runs. For the Rockies’ oldest regular, it was reminiscent of the days when he regularly mauled the box scores.
“That’s the kind of at-bat we need from him,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “And he knows that.”
Consider it having a blast in the past.
