At night’s end, the Rockies were still in the playoff race, the Los Angeles Dodgers wore a red face and Brad Hawpe’s effortless swing saved a season at stake.
It was just another typical evening at Coors Field, where curtain calls now come standard with hot dogs and wins strain credibility. Hawpe stepped into the spotlight Wednesday, his body slowly recovering from a nasty virus that caused him to lose weight, plus points off his batting average.
In a season defined by resilience and always straying from the script, Hawpe shooting a game-winning moonball into the right-field seats made perfect sense.
The result: Rockies 6, Dodgers 5, hope endless.
“You don’t watch him, you watch the ball and ‘Hawper’ knew it,” starting pitcher Josh Fogg said.
“Everyone went a little crazy. It’s getting ridiculous around here right now.”
Ridiculous is Hawpe belting his 26th home run in the eighth inning despite entering the at-bat in a 10-for-53 slump. Ridiculous is Hawpe not losing any confidence and making no excuses for an illness that deprived him of strength. His blast kept the Rockies 4 1/2 games behind wild-card leader San Diego with 10 games left.
“I thought it was gone as soon as I hit it,” Hawpe said of his first home run since Aug. 29. “If I hadn’t gone out, I would have been pretty upset.”
Ridiculous is Jonathan Broxton serving as the victim on consecutive nights. Broxton went 13 months between home runs, a streak snapped this past August. He has been tagged for five in September, and after his 80th appearance of the season admitted that his arm was a little sore for a Dodgers team that has grown tired of playing the foil.
“It’s not like those guys they have are easy to hit home runs off,” said Todd Helton, who numbed the Dodgers with a walkoff shot on Tuesday. “This was dramatic.”
Ridiculous is Matt Holliday’s daily carnage. He belted two more homers on the first two pitches he saw from Brad Penny on Wednesday. Holliday has gone deep 10 times in the past 11 games, a stretch like no other Rockie has had. Not Larry Walker in his 1997 MVP season. Not Helton in 2000 when he threatened to hit .400.
“The ball looks pretty good right now,” said Holliday, a leading contender for NL MVP honors with a league-best .340 average and 128 RBIs, along with a career-high 35 home runs. “I am seeing the ball well and just trying to put a good swing on it.”
Garrett Atkins singled to lead off the eighth inning. Kazuo Matsui pinch-ran for him and swiped second base. It unclenched Hawpe’s fist, leaving him in perfect position to punch out the biggest hit of his career.
“I wasn’t thinking single. I just wanted to make sure I pulled the ball,” Hawpe said. “It happened to be a slider, so it made it easier. To get a curtain call … I have never had one before. That was really special.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
