PITTSBURGH — It was a conversation, not a meeting, manager Jim Tracy insisted. Two hours before the first pitch Friday at PNC Park, Tracy gathered the position players in his office.
He didn’t quote Fergie — “I Gotta Feeling” — or Rockne — “Win one for, er, the Skipper.” He was less fire and brimstone and more mathematician.
“You are going to win 54 games and lose 54,” Tracy said of his talk driven by the Rockies’ Jekyll and Hyde offensive numbers at home and on the road. “It’s the other 54 that determine if you are going to play in October with seven other teams.”
It wasn’t exactly John Nash in “A Beautiful Mind,” but his equation was easy to follow: Start winning or else. The combination of solid starting pitching and clutch hitting Friday added up to a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Nobody was calling it a must-win. But it goes without saying that if the Rockies dropped their second straight series to the National League’s worst club, they weren’t going anywhere.
“Playoff teams don’t play like we do on the road. We need to worry about us,” said starter Jason Hammel, who worked six innings, allowing three runs for his eighth win. “We need to start taking care of business out here.”
The Rockies ended their seven-game road losing streak by adhering to old staples. For starters, they never trailed, which has become a psychological burden in visiting parks.
Carlos Gonzalez, who is starting to creep into the NL MVP conversation, clobbered his seventh home run in nine games in the first inning. Dexter Fowler (RBI double in his first start since Sunday) and Todd Helton (RBI single) shoved the Rockies ahead 3-0.
“Carlos should get (MVP) consideration,” Tracy said. “You look at his numbers with how much season we have left, it could get very interesting.”
The three-run cushion felt comfortable with Hammel on the mound. He breezed through five innings, pitching in front of roughly 30 friends and family in town. A single mistake nearly cost him a victory. Hammel, after striking out Garrett Jones for the second out in the sixth inning on a paralyzing changeup, hung the same pitch to Pedro Alvarez. The promising rookie nearly hit it into the Allegheny River, tying the score.
“I can’t let that one big inning happen,” Hammel said.
It was at this point on the last trip that the Rockies would have buckled. But Troy Tulowitzki drove in his 10th run in 10 games in the seventh. That unclenched the fist. A two-run ninth followed as Gonzalez delivered a sacrifice fly and Jason Giambi a pinch-hit single.
Victories over the Pirates are nothing to celebrate. But it was impossible to deny the game’s significance for a team on the margins of the playoff chase.
“The commonality among good teams is execution,” said closer Huston Street, mummified in ice after his seventh save. “You can have meetings all you want, but good teams don’t talk about it, they just go out and do it.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
Looking Ahead
TODAY: Rockies at Pirates, 5:05 p.m., FSN
As the season has teetered on the verge of collapse, Jorge De La Rosa (4-3, 5.01 ERA) has been a stabilizing force recently. He won last week for the first time since April 25, mixing in a powerful fastball and devastating breaking ball against the Cubs. The Rockies are just 5-4 in the left-hander’s starts this season after going 20-12 a year ago. De La Rosa must pitch better on the road, where he’s won just once and has been tagged for five home runs in 14 1/3 innings. Ross Ohlendorf (1-9, 4.41) survived a line drive off his head from Troy Tulowitzki without missing a start. The former Princeton star doesn’t get a lot of run support, his lone victory coming when Pittsburgh shut out the Phillies on July 2. Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Sunday: Rockies’ Esmil Rogers (1-2, 4.85 ERA) at Pirates’ Paul Maholm (7-9, 4.59), 11:35 a.m., FSN
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (17-2, 2.61) at Mets’ Mike Pelfrey (10-6, 4.16), 5:05 p.m., FSN
Wednesday: Rockies’ Jeff Francis (4-4, 4.67) at Mets’ Jonathon Niese (7-5, 3.63), 5:05 p.m., FSN
Thursday: Rockies’ Jason Hammel (8-6, 4.38) at Mets’ Johan Santana (8-6, 3.20), 10:10 a.m.
