PITTSBURGH — His club spiraling toward irrelevancy, manager Clint Hurdle held a team meeting before Friday’s game. The message: improve, play with an edge.
To a man, the Rockies believe they are better than they have shown. Bench coach Jim Tracy spent the plane ride to Pittsburgh analyzing the results. His conclusion: The Rockies should have five more wins.
The reason they don’t is simple: They have come up small in the game’s biggest moments. In the series opener, they debunked the myth they page Dr. Heimlich in the clutch. Brad Hawpe’s two-run, ninth-inning home run shoved the Rockies to a nervy 3-1 victory at PNC Park, injecting confidence into a club desperate to regain its swagger.
“It’s time we play with a chip on our shoulder,” said reliever Alan Embree, who recorded the win. “You gotta have some pride and get a little angry.”
The Rockies were fuming by the ninth inning, furious over an erroneous call by plate umpire Scott Barry that deprived them of the tying run in the eighth. He determined that Seth Smith left third base early on a tag attempt.
“You can’t make that call and be wrong. He was wrong,” said Hurdle, his version confirmed by replay.
Nothing like getting jobbed to jar an underachieving team. Down 1-0, the Rockies shoved back in the ninth when Ian Stewart greeted closer Matt Capps with a double. He pinch hit for cleanup hitter Garrett Atkins, a move that speaks to how well Stewart is batting and how far Atkins has fallen. Said Hurdle, citing Atkins’ two previous failed attempts with runners in scoring position, “I felt the best guy was Stewart rather than Garrett.”
With Rockies players leaning over the top rail of the dugout, Hawpe continued writing his diary of havoc this season. He crushed a Capps fastball into the shrubbery beyond the center-field fence to put the Rockies ahead. His sixth home run inflated his average to .363 this season as he stalks his first all-star berth.
“That’s why you play the game, fun moments like that,” Hawpe said.
The Rockies finished with five hits in the inning, equaling their total against starter Paul Maholm in seven innings. Capps also drew the Rockies’ ire with a hard tag on catcher Chris Iannetta. Iannetta dismissed the incident, but Embree admitted, “I would have really been chapped if he got hurt.”
That the Rockies were in position to win was due solely to Jorge De La Rosa. He fanned 10 Pirates, giving him 22 in his last two games, tying a club record. The Pirates’ lone run came in the sixth on Craig Monroe’s RBI single.
The Rockies appeared to tie the game in the eighth but became reluctant extras in the “Umpire Strikes Back.”
With runners on first and third and no outs, Troy Tulowitzki lined to Nyjer Morgan. Smith tagged up and scored. Barry ruled otherwise.
The bad call, ironically, inspired a remarkable ending.
“We could have hung our heads,” Stewart said, “but we are over that mentality.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
