CHICAGO — At impact, closer Brian Fuentes thought the game was over. At 2:52 p.m., he received confirmation of the Rockies’ 5-3 victory Sunday in what amounted to a painfully slow fax in a field named after a cellphone.
Fuentes pitched with heart, though it might be difficult to locate today, lodged in his throat by Matt Holliday and Omar Quintanilla.
The ninth inning turned into a soap opera of screaming fans and loaded bases. When Chicago’s Joe Crede popped up to left field, Fuentes figured he had escaped. Then crisis ensued. Quintanilla kept going back. Holliday raced in. Neither heard the other calling for the ball.
“They both seemed pretty adamant about catching it,” Fuentes said. “I was hoping that Matt would just knock him out of the way like a little gnat.”
A split second before a collision, Quintanilla ducked out of the way, leaving Holliday to bobble the ball before catching it with his bare hand. Yes, bare hand.
“I didn’t know that, really?” Quintanilla said.
From drama to Ricky Bobby: That Just Happened.
The Rockies won their fourth straight series, this triumph at the expense of the American League Central’s top team.
“How can we not feel good about beating them?” Garrett Atkins said.
Two weeks ago, Crede’s quail would have ricocheted to the ground as pinch-runner Pablo Ozuna zoomed from first with the winning run. On Father’s Day, the Rockies were no longer a team only a mother could love.
They believe the worst is in their rearview mirror, confidence growing as they baby step back into the NL West race. They have won eight of 11 games and sit 8 1/2 games back from the nose-diving Diamondbacks. They haven’t been as close as eight games since May 12.
Pitching is at the root of this resurrection. The Rockies own a 3.31 staff ERA since June 1, a figure that shrinks when Aaron Cook pitches. His win wasn’t artistic, but significant. His 10 victories are a career high, a figure that will lead him to the All-Star Game barring injury. Only Shawn Chacon has ever won more games for the Rockies before the break — 11 in 2003.
“Cookie’s been crazy good,” first baseman Todd Helton said.
Cook did his best work with the fire alarms blaring. Or, in his mind, received the most help. In the fifth, Nick Swisher lined to Holliday, who doubled off Jim Thome at second in a controversial call. Moments earlier, Atkins, who’s enjoying the best defensive stretch of his career, made a diving play on an Orlando Cabrera groundball that saved a run when Jermaine Dye later homered.
“The 10 wins are nice, but I hope there’s a lot more,” Cook said. “Give credit to the guys behind me. Every time I throw a pitch, I turn around and watch them make the play.”
Chris Iannetta and Brad Hawpe gave Fuentes room to exhale in the ninth. Iannetta blasted his career-best seventh home run and Hawpe went deep for the fourth time since June 6. Every inch of those home runs felt necessary when Crede floated his flyball to left.
“It’s like fantasy camp,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “There’s no such thing as a bad catch.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
