ATLANTA—Todd Helton’s 2,000th hit was indisputable.
Helton lined a clean single to left-center field for the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday, reaching the milestone one night after being denied on a contested ruling by the official scorer.
“I didn’t think about yesterday,” Helton said. “I was just thinking about getting a hit today. I’ll take what I can get.”
In the ninth inning of Monday night’s 5-1 Rockies victory, Helton hit a sharp one-hopper past Atlanta shortstop Yunel Escobar, but the play was scored an error on Escobar.
Rockies manager Hurdle disagreed with the ruling and called the press box to request a meeting with official scorer Jack Wilkinson. The two met briefly before Tuesday night’s game, but Wilkinson upheld his call even after watching a replay.
“I thought that was done very professionally and I shared my viewpoints with him—same thing I said last night,” Hurdle said. “He explained his viewpoints on it, and maybe I gave him a different perspective to look at it.”
Wilkinson declined to comment about the play. A former longtime sports writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he indicated that Major League Baseball officials didn’t want him making further comments about his rulings.
Helton finished 0 for 4 with an RBI on Monday night, keeping him at 1,999 hits—but not for long. He singled in the third inning Tuesday, becoming the 255th player to reach 2,000 hits and second in two nights.
Milwaukee catcher Jason Kendall accomplished the feat Monday night.
After going 1 for 3 in Colorado’s 8-1 loss to the Braves on Tuesday, Helton wasn’t exactly setting his sights on the coveted baseball milestone of 3,000 hits.
“Right now I’m thinking about 2,001,” Helton said. “They say the first 2,000 are easy. The third is the tough part, but I’m not worried about that now. I’m worried about beating the Braves tomorrow.”
