Colorado Rockies: Three interesting quotes we heard over the weekend
The Colorado Rockies rallied late on Sunday afternoon to take an 8-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was a big early May victory in the fact that it prevented a National League West opponent from coming into Denver and posting a sweep.
Trailing 7-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Colorado Rockies scored five runs to take the lead. After Wade Davis nailed down the save, it represented the first come-from-behind win for the Rockies when trailing by four or more in the eighth inning or later since coming from behind to beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-9 on August 17, 2014, when they trailed 9-5 entering bottom of the ninth.
Highlighting Colorado’s comeback was a three-run triple by Raimel Tapia off Arizona reliever Archie Bradley. Tapia is now 3-for-6 with a double, triple and home run with the bases loaded in his career.
Tapia made the hit into a triple by hustling to third and just beating the throw. After the game, Nolan Arenado was asked about the aggressive swings and baserunning Tapia has shown this season.
“We want them to be aggressive so they can learn from their aggressive mistakes rather than being tentative,” Arenado said. “That’s what makes Tapia good. He’s an aggressive baseball player. He takes his hacks. Little things like that makes him who he is. We’ve learned to appreciate it.”
As context, the “them” also includes Ryan McMahon, Garrett Hampson, David Dahl and the other young Rockies players. Now a veteran and one of the leaders of the clubhouse, Arenado knows that the younger Rockies can learn best by pushing the envelope, even if it makes some fans shake their heads at times.
Don’t expect to see the younger Rockies dialed back any time soon … and that’s a good thing for a Colorado offense that often needs a spark to get going.
After Sunday’s win, Colorado is hitting, as a team, .238 on the season. That ranks them 22nd out of the 30 Major League teams. However, the offense has started to click more in recent weeks. Since April 14, the Rockies are 13-7 overall and are hitting .264 as a team. During that span, Colorado ranks first in the National League in runs and runs per game (6.2) while also ranking among the top four NL teams in batting average.
Is the offense finally turning around? Here’s what Bud Black had to say on Sunday.
“I thought we showed signs in Atlanta. We had a couple of rough ones in Milwaukee but then we bounced back after two losses there and put up big numbers in Milwaukee,” Black said. “Friday night’s game could have gone either way. We were one swing away from winning that one. I think there are signs, but we’re not there yet. I really don’t think we are. We still have to pitch a little better overall but offensively I’m seeing some things that are very encouraging.”
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Those “things” included Nolan Arenado’s 20 RBI in April, tying him for fifth in the NL in the month. Trevor Story hit .301 in April and Charlie Blackmon has a .355 average in his past 17 games.
Yes, there are some encouraging signs for the offense. If Tapia and Tony Wolters can continue to hit from the bottom of the order as well, it means the Rockies could finally have the offense everyone hoped for last season and envisioned this season when Daniel Murphy was signed.
Lost in the splendor that is Raimel Tapia and his three-run triple on Sunday, Ryan McMahon followed with a single through a drawn-in infield that plated Tapia and gave the Rockies their lead. Tapia tied it but McMahon had the big hit to actually push the Rockies ahead.
McMahon also had a single to lead off the fifth and would score on the two-run single by German Márquez. That spark in the fifth shuffled the Rockies out of a slumber that saw Zack Greinke retire 10 of the previous 11 batters.
Down big in the eighth inning, McMahon said there was still plenty of reasons to believe the Rockies could mount a late comeback.
“I think it speaks to our team and how resilient we are. We’re never really out of a ball game with the depth of our lineup.” “We needed this one. Everyone showed focus in their at-bats down the stretch.”
Bud Black talked about the patience of his team at the plate in Sunday’s postgame press conference. David Dahl’s at-bat right before the heroics from Tapia and McMahon was called out in particular as the outfielder showed patience and drew a walk to load the bases.
How are you feeling after Colorado’s 1-2 start to a nine-game National League West homestand? Let us know in the comments section below.