Baltimore – They represent the middle of the road, a median marked more often by a pylon than a green sign.
The Rockies and Baltimore Orioles entered Saturday’s game sharing identical 29-32 records. So much for the in- equities of interleague play? They are not good enough to scare, not bad enough to ignore.
If an expression, they’d be shrugged shoulders. The benefit of existing somewhere between happiness and gloom is that a fragile season can always swell in importance with a gutsy win.
Such is the case for the Rockies, whose 3-2 victory spoiled a postcard-perfect night at Camden Yards for raucous Orioles fans.
Most figure to return today – as many as 40,000 – to get their Cal Ripken bobbleheads. On Saturday, they settled for a collective headache after Kazuo Matsui’s RBI double in the 10th inning. Matsui, one of baseball’s best offseason signings at $1.5 million, has almost single-handedly authored three wins, Cincinnati a week ago and San Francisco on May 25 among his victims.
“I would say that it’s lucky that I have been in those situations,” Matsui said. “The important thing is that the team won.”
The Rockies seem to do that a lot more when Matsui is in the lineup. Since he returned from the disabled list May 21, the Rockies are 12-6. That’s not a coincidence. He has batted .303 (20-for-65) during that time, though few hits were bigger than his last rip.
Matsui kept his weight back on reliever Todd Williams’ slider, slicing it into left field to score Chris Iannetta and providing luster to Rodrigo Lopez’s return to Baltimore.
“The guys here have a lot of confidence in Kaz,” Rockies slugger Matt Holliday said. “He seems to do really well in (the clutch).”
As with any star who doesn’t hit for power, Matsui requires teammates to bring the game to him. Lopez – seven innings, two runs allowed – kept the score tied with nifty defense, including a glove-shovel pass on a Corey Patterson bunt in the seventh inning.
“It was my only way,” said Lopez, who practiced the technique in spring training on squeeze-bunt plays. “I thought it was my shot to be on ‘Web Gems.”‘
Iannetta served as the unlikely conduit for Matsui offensively. In the lineup despite owning a .200 average – Yorvit Torrealba will start today – Iannetta delivered a one-out single up the middle after manager Clint Hurdle smartly avoided the temptation to pinch-hit for him.
Willy Taveras advanced him to second on a sacrifice bunt, ushering Matsui to the plate with two out.
The Orioles begrudgingly recognized Matsui’s achievement. It was understandable on a night they inched closer to the middle of nowhere.
“He didn’t hit it hard,” Baltimore manager Sam Perlozzo said. “He’s flicking it out there and sometimes that’s what happens.”
Staff writer Troy Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
