Pittsburgh – Josh Fogg is a walking smirk. To hear him tell it, he’s never been a star, just a speck of lint on the red carpet. He’s too busy living the dream to obsess about his precarious rotation spot or take himself too seriously.
On Tuesday night, he finessed the Rockies to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates accompanied by lightning bolts, raindrops and history.
It was the Rockies’ first road series win ever at PNC Park, where Fogg leads all pitchers with 20 victories.
“I was here four seasons with the Pirates, so that’s not really that good is it?” Fogg said with a grin.
Fogg’s self-deprecating sense of humor and his purple dress shirts mask intensive competitiveness. He knew what was at stake Tuesday, that the staff needed him to gobble up innings after the Pirates’ hitters sprayed graffiti on Monday’s box score. But he did more than spare the bullpen. Along with a humming offense, the veteran right-hander changed the entire vibe of a road trip.
At 2-2, the Rockies are no longer afraid of ending up with their hazards flashing and the radiator smoking. Their goal is to make up ground on the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers and on the San Diego Padres’ wild-card pace car.
The Rockies are 5 1/2 games behind the Dodgers and 4 1/2 behind the Padres. They play both teams at Coors Field next week.
“We want to do some damage out here and know we have to if we are going to catch those teams,” Matt Holliday said. “It’s not like they are losing series.”
Fogg, at his best, is irritating. He’s a dial-up connection in a DSL world, changing speeds with no predictability. He undersells his repertoire as a “little fastball, a little cutter and a little changeup.” The Pirates did little against Fogg, managing just two runs and five hits off him in seven innings.
“It’s the same Josh Fogg I’ve seen in the past,” said Pirates manager Jim Tracy. “We didn’t mount any kind of threat offensively beyond what we did in the first inning. There’s not a lot else to say.”
Tracy saved his most important words for a 40-minute pregame meeting with several players. The Pirates are in danger of dissolving from disappointing to dysfunctional after shortstop Jack Wilson got into a televised shouting match with pitching coach Jim Colborn on Monday night.
The Rockies used to drip in drama, fading in interest with the first pitch. Now, they are attempting to take that next step from intriguing team to genuine contender. In seasons past, the road was a series of tombstones where averages and home runs went to die.
Since June 13, however, the Rockies are batting nearly .270 in visiting ballparks, while scoring 5.8 runs, nearly double their average in the first 31 road games. On Tuesday, no Todd Helton – after 41 consecutive starts, he sat out with a terrible headache – presented no problem.
The Rockies scored five runs in the first three innings, prodded by Jamey Carroll’s RBI double, one of his three hits.
“I think this group of guys is beyond trying to survive on the road. They expect to win and are capable of it,” hitting instructor Alan Cockrell said. “They know it and, more importantly, they believe it.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
