Arigato.
That’s Japanese for “thank you.”
It’s what the Rockies owe second baseman Kaz Matsui after he lifted them to a crazy 10-9, 10-inning victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday afternoon at Coors Field.
But thanks are owed Matsui for more than just sparking Sunday’s rally in which the Rockies erased an 8-2 deficit. Since he returned from the disabled list May 21, the Rockies are 9-4. His back spasms now gone, Matsui has five multihit games, eight RBIs and 11 runs scored in those 13 games. His clutch 3-for-6 performance Sunday bumped his average to .325.
“He and Willy (Taveras) put so much pressure on the other team,” said Garrett Atkins, who was Sunday’s other hero, going 3-for-5 with a solo homer in the second and the game-winning single in the 10th. “They have so much speed and create so much havoc that the other team gets frustrated and starts to put pressure on themselves. You saw that with Kaz today.”
Case in point: Sunday’s decisive 10th inning. The second baseman started a slick double play by scooping up Ken Griffey Jr.’s grounder in the hole between first and second and making a nifty throw to shortstop Jamey Carroll. In the bottom of the 10th, Matsui led off with a single, advanced to second when reliever Victor Santos threw away the ball trying to pick him off first, then scored on Atkins’ single to left.
The 10th was just the final chapter of Matsui’s heroics. He hit a bases-loaded, three-run triple in the eighth, fueling a four-run rally that put the Rockies ahead 9-8. The Rockies appeared to win the game when Brad Hawpe drove in Matsui with a single up the middle.
In the ninth, however, closer Brian Fuentes literally tossed away a chance to close out the Rockies’ comeback win. First, he gave up a leadoff double to Juan Castro. Then Fuentes had Castro dead to rights with a sweet pickoff move to second. The only problem: Fuentes double-clutched and threw the ball into center field. Castro advanced to third and scored on Jeff Conine’s single, sending the game into extra innings.
Matsui, a seven-time all-star in Japan, isn’t overly impressed by his breakout performance this season.
“This is not the best I’ve played, so I don’t think about that,” he said through his interpreter, Yoshi Ono. “When I get up to bat, I want to hit every single ball. But I’m getting better, for sure.”
Manager Clint Hurdle believes Matsui is becoming the type of player the Mets believed they were getting when they brought him over from Japan in 2004 for a three-year, $20 million contract.
“He’s an exciting ballplayer,” Hurdle said. “I think he’s starting to rekindle the skill set that was going on in Japan. The Mets thought pretty highly of him and gave him a nice contract. Things just never got on track for him there.”
After Matsui batted .345 in 32 games with Colorado last season, the club made retaining the switch hitter a priority, signing him to a $1.5 million contract. The investment paid dividends Sunday as the Rockies won their first home series since taking two of three games from Arizona in the season’s first series.
“It’s nice to get the game-winning hit, but this was a big team win, and Kaz’s triple was the biggest hit of the game,” Atkins said.
“(Cincinnati) is a team that we should be able to beat at home – at least take two out of three. We kept fighting and scratching, and we were able to pull it out. I think that says good things about us.”
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
