LOS ANGELES — He was too wild on opening day, too predictable against the Diamondbacks, too inconsistent last weekend in Chicago.
But Jeff Francis finally found himself Tuesday night, an archeological dig 11 weeks in the making. In the process, the Rockies finally revealed a pulse, catcher Yorvit Torrealba fighting the Dodgers’ Matt Kemp after the outfielder took exception to a tag on an eighth-inning third strike in the dirt.
Maybe both Francis’ command and Torrealba’s passion arrived too late to save the Rockies’ season, but their performance and emotion in a 3-0 win over the Dodgers could signal a new beginning.
This is what everyone who owns purple pinstripes and once considered hiring Dinger for a birthday party was waiting for: anger, frustration, and ultimately, domination.
Francis delivered, his seven-inning scoreless effort a time-capsule ride back to October when the left-hander mauled the Phillies and Arizona in the playoffs.
His win spared the Rockies further indignity on a road trip that couldn’t have gone any worse if Clark Griswold was piloting the charter. Colorado snapped a 13-game road losing streak, winning for the first time away from Coors Field since beating the San Diego Padres 4-2 on May 9.
The last time the Rockies won any game was nine days ago when Hillary Clinton was still a candidate for the democratic presidential nomination and Joba Chamberlain was still in the bullpen.
Torrealba’s fury was easy to defend. He had grinded through a rough night, hit in the mask with a bat and put on his back by a high-and-tight pitch in his last at-bat. Even if stewing, he was not looking to go brawling. Kemp, however, made it almost impossible for Torrealba not to retaliate.
With two outs in the eighth and Taylor Buchholz pitching, the burly Kemp whiffed on a spiked curveball in a dirt. Torrealba pounced toward the ball. As he tried to retrieve it, Kemp inexplicably tapped at the ball with his bat. Torrealba eventually recovered the ball and, he’s supposed to, tagged Kemp in the chest.
Kemp took exception, and shoved Torrealba in the chest. Torrealba slammed a forearm to Kemp’s neck. Exit baseball, enter basebrawl.
Kemp charged Torrealba who tackled the outfield to the ground – home plate umpire Mike Winters should have signaled two points for a take down – as the benches and bullpens emptied. Order was quickly restored, with the Dodgers’ Juan Pierre emerging from the pile with Kemp and Garrett Atkins escorting Torrealba off to a cascade of boos.
Both players, Kemp more specifically, will face suspension. A ruling will likely come within the next few days.
Torrealba’s dust up overshadowed, Francis’ encouraging outing. His ERA dipped below 6.00 for the first time since May 18. It has not been under 5.00 once this season. Francis was less predictable, throwing more curveballs. And he remained committed to throwing his fastball on the inner half of the plate, which set up a changeup that preyed on impatient Dodgers’ hitters.
For a night, talk of him becoming Barry Zito Lite was silenced.
“I know that I am a good pitcher and that I am good enough to win here,” Francis said. “Teams are approaching me a little differently, which gives me less room for error. But it starts with me pitching better. It’s not like I was getting beat on my best pitches.”
The Rockies provided Francis room to exhale, posting two runs off Brad Penny in the third inning, which included a Todd Helton RBI single.
That the Rockies beat Penny won’t be remembered, this game imprinted on minds because of Francis’ performance and Torrealba’s fists.
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
