Colorado Rockies history: Troy Tulowitzki hits for the cycle

Entering Monday, August 10, 2009, the Colorado Rockies were in a three-way tie for the third best record in the National League and in a two-way tie for the National League Wild Card spot with the San Francisco Giants. They would go on to win the National League Wild Card spot and go to the National League Division Series but on that Monday night at Coors Field, the Rockies would face the Chicago Cubs and that night would become one of our best moments in Colorado Rockies franchise history.

The Colorado Rockies were wrapping up a four-game series that had started the previous Friday against the Chicago Cubs. They had won two of the previous three games against the Cubs so, at worst, they would be looking for a split in the series. However, Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki would make taking three out of four much easier as on this night, he would hit for the cycle in front of 34,485 people in attendance and thousands more watching on television and thousands more listening on radio.

This is how the starting lineups would look that evening.

Chicago Cubs (58-51, 2nd place in the NL Central, two games back of the Cardinals)

1. Ryan Theriot, SS
2. Milton Bradley, RF
3. Derrek Lee, 1B
4. Jake Fox, 3B
5. Geovany Soto, C
6. Alfonso Soriano, LF
7. Jeff Baker, 2B (who had been traded from the Rockies to the Cubs in July)
8. Sam Fuld, CF
9. Tom Gorzelanny, SP

That lineup was made Cubs manager Lou Piniella. This lineup for the Rockies was made by Jim Tracy, who took over for Clint Hurdle earlier in the season.

1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Ryan Spilborghs, LF
3. Todd Helton, 1B
4. Troy Tulowitzki, SS
5. Brad Hawpe, RF
6. Garrett Atkins, 3B
7. Clint Barmes, 2B
8. Yorvit Torrealba, C
9. Jorge De La Rosa, SP

Here’s how the historical evening unfolded.

In the top of the first inning, even though Theriot singled and De La Rosa walked both Lee and Soto, he got out of the inning unscathed as he stranded the bases loaded.

In the bottom of the first inning, with two outs, Todd Helton would single to left field. Four pitches later, Troy Tulowitzki would accomplish the home run part of the cycle as he would hit a two-run homer off of Gorzelanny to make it 2-0 Rockies.

De La Rosa would strand the bases loaded again in the second inning but again, the Cubs could not deliver with a run. In the bottom of the inning, the Rockies would blow the game wide open as Clint Barmes hit a solo home run followed by RBI single by Dexter Fowler three batters later. That would make it 4-0 Rockies and knock Gorzelanny out of the game.

Esmailin Caridad would come on in “relief” but in name only. Three batters later, Troy Tulowitzki would make it half way to the cycle with a two-run single to drive in De La Rosa and Fowler to make it 6-0.

Each pitcher would face the minimum until the bottom of the fourth. De La Rosa and Fowler would each strike out to begin the inning but after singles by Spilborghs and Helton and a pick-off throwing error by Caridad that scored Spilborghs and advanced Helton to third, Tulo came up in the clutch again as he hit an RBI double to make it 8-0 Rockies. He would be three-quarters of the way to the cycle before the fourth inning was even complete. He also already had five RBI.