Resurrection. Reincarnation. Nine lives. Voodoo in LoDo.
How else to explain the Rockies coming back from the dead Saturday night at Coors Field to win for the 15th time in 16 games?
Todd Helton’s walkoff, two-run blast off Jesse Chavez threw the ballpark into bedlam and gave the Rockies a 9-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Just prior to Helton’s heroics, pinch-hitter extraordinaire Seth Smith squeezed off a single to right.
Yet manager Jim Tracy isn’t buying the notion that the Rockies are winning under the influence of some sort of magic spell. He has repeatedly said that execution and practice way back in spring training make the magic possible.
“There are all kinds of little things we worked on in spring training that pay off for you later,” Tracy said. “Those drills weren’t just time-killers in spring training.”
But it will be Helton’s sixth career walkoff homer that fans will remember. It was Helton’s first walkoff homer since his memorable blast off the Dodgers’ Takashi Saito on Sept. 18, 2007. That blast lit the fuse for Rocktober.
But in the clubhouse after Saturday night’s victory, Helton seemed more interested in rushing to meet his family than talking about himself.
It was left for others to describe what Helton had done.
“It’s not surprising with a veteran like Todd, and I’m sure he’s been clutch like that over his whole career,” said Ian Stewart, who went 3-for-4 and came up a single short of hitting for the cycle. “There was a calmness in the dugout with him coming up. It just felt like it was right and that he was going to get the job done.”
Before the bewitchment of the ninth inning, the Rockies needed another rally just to tie the game. Trailing 7-4 in the eighth, catcher Chris Iannetta’s monstrous two-out, three-run homer to center field off reliever John Grabow changed doom to hope. The clout came on a 0-2 count.
“Up until two strikes, I was just looking for a ball that I could drive,” said Iannetta, who hit his 10th homer. “When I got to two strikes, I just tried to put the barrel on the ball, wherever it was. I was trying to multi-protect, put the ball in play, try to get a hit. He threw a fastball that I think he made a mistake with. I don’t think he wanted to go away with it. He was trying to go in. I just got the bat head on it and took an aggressive enough swing where I could hit it out.”
Said Tracy: “That was an incredible win, and we had to do some very special things to do it. We had to do some very significant things to set up the heroics of Todd and Chris.”
Specifically, Tracy pointed out two plays made by reliever Joel Peralta in the Pirates’ eighth. First, Peralta fielded Jack Wilson’s bunt and had the wherewithal to throw to third, forcing out Brandon Moss. Next, Peralta combined with shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to pick off Jason Jaramillo at second. Peralta ended the inning by striking out Eric Hinske.
Tracy, now 17-5 as Rockies manager, said he’s never been on a ride like this. But he pointed out that many of the Rockies were, back in 2007.
“I said the other day that the manager was in uncharted waters,” Tracy said. “But several of the players in that clubhouse have gone through this before. It’s not like this is something that is awe-striking to them. They have performed in this manner before.”
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
