PITTSBURGH — He didn’t get a win, but Greg Reynolds got something much more important after his first major-league start in almost three years.
He got the respect of his teammates.
The story line going into the Rockies’ 6-4 win over the Pirates on Saturday night was about Reynolds, the highest draft choice in Rockies’ history, trying to pick up the pieces of an injury-plagued career. But things changed dramatically Friday night when the Rockies lost 4-3 to the Pirates in 14 innings.
Jim Tracy used all seven of his relievers in that game, leaving three — Huston Street, Franklin Morales and Felipe Paulino — unavailable for duty Saturday. So it was that Reynolds, no matter how he pitched, was going to work into the middle innings. They call it taking one for the club.
“I knew that coming in,” Reynolds said. “I knew they needed someone to eat up some innings. I just wanted to get a win. It was big for us to get right on the winning path again after that loss.”
They did, thanks in large part to Reynolds’ six solid innings of work. He allowed three hits and two runs. Reynolds teetered on the brink, walking back-to-back hitters in the third, but got through it to put the Rockies in position to win.
Some will focus on Ty Wigginton’s bases-clearing double in the eighth as the key to the game, but the players were talking about Reynolds’ gritty effort, one that figures to earn him another spot start Thursday against the Mets before Ubaldo Jimenez returns from the 15-day disabled list.
“Greg really stepped up,” said Matt Belisle, who came on in the seventh to get two outs after a 34-pitch inning the night before. “He had a lot of pitches early and he came through. I told him, ‘That was a gutsy job to get us where you did because you knew you had to.’ “
Reynolds, the second pick in the 2006 draft, wears the stigma of being drafted ahead of the likes of Tim Lincecum, Evan Longoria and Clayton Kershaw. He desperately wants to make his mark after a litany of injuries and a 2-8, 8.13 disaster in 14 appearances in 2008.
“This time around means a whole lot more,” Reynolds said. “I’ve had to fight my butt off for a couple of years now to get back to this point. I feel I owe this organization a lot and it’s time for me to repay them.”
While Reynolds’ contributions in the season’s early going could be two spot starts, Wigginton was expected to help change the dynamic of the Rockies’ lineup, especially on the road where they hit .226 and lost 19 out of 26 one-run decisions in 2010.
Friday’s loss looked like so many of the defeats the Rockies swallowed a year ago. But one night later, Wigginton broke the game open with a three-run double under the same circumstances — bases loaded, two outs — that he faced in the 10th inning on Friday. That time, he hit a would-be double that third baseman Pedro Alvarez turned into the stuff of highlight videos, diving to his left and throwing Wigginton out by a step.
This time, Wigginton hammered a pitch from Jose Veras past a diving Alvarez to give the Rockies their fifth win in seven games, keeping them in first place in the National League West.
Said Wigginton: “I saw him diving and my initial thought was, ‘Oh, no.’ I was glad to see it get by.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
SUNDAY: Rockies at Pirates, 11:35 a.m., Root
It has come to this for Jhoulys Chacin: He didn’t have crisp command of his fastball in his 2011 debut, but he shut out the Dodgers for seven innings. Chacin (1-0, 0.00 ERA) is lethal with his off-speed stuff, particularly his hard sinker, once he gets ahead in the count. James McDonald (0-0, 3.86), a cousin of former Cherry Creek and current Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald, is rounding into form after missing much of spring training with a strain in his left side. He uses a 92- to 93-mph fastball to set up his strikeout pitch, a sweeping curveball. A noted Rockies killer, he’s 9-11, 3.84 in his career3-1, 3.06 vs. Colorado; 6-10, 3.95 vs. other clubs. Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
Monday: Rockies’ Jason Hammel (1-0, 7.20 ERA) at Mets’ Mike Pelfrey (0-1, 15.63), 5:10 p.m., Root
Tuesday: Rockies’ Esmil Rogers (1-0, 1.23) at Mets’ Jon Niese (0-1, 6.55), 5:10 p.m., Root
Wednesday: Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (1-0, 1.74) at Mets’ R.A. Dickey (1-1, 2.45), 5:10 p.m., Root
Thursday: Rockies’ Greg Reynolds (0-0, 3.00) at Mets’ Chris Capuano (1-0, 6.75), 11:10 a.m., Root
