Over sixty games into the season and the Colorado Rockies had a deja vu moment. On Thursday, Kris Bryant was placed on the 10-day injured list for a bruised rib, and then that night the Rockies snapped their 5-game losing streak with a win over the St louis Cardinals. Coincidence? Maybe not.
The series against the Cincinnati Reds this week was steeped in all kinds of reminders of the Rockies team that started this season. Lack luster batting and late-inning failures from the bullpen gave the Reds a lot more credit than they may have deserved in the series at Coors Field. Then the veteran logjam broke free again on the Rockies roster and suddenly the purple machine roared to life.
Bryant’s return to the injured list made way for the return of Michael Toglia from the Albuquerque Isotopes, and he brought some bounce-back heart with him. Toglia was optioned to the Isotopes on April 29th after failing to deliver much at the plate. His last showings before that move were against the Seatle Mariners; they were disappointing with their inclusion of multiple strikeouts and pointed to a lack of ability to seem to do anything other than hit the very occasional homerun. Toglia was part of the first base/right field platoon, so the Rockies seemed to not have a need for him. Then Sean Bouchard and Bryant went on the injured list this last Thursday, and Toglia got his chance in the big show again.
In Toglia’s first game back, at bottom of the fifth with no outs and a tentative-feeling visitor lead by three runs, he robbed Matt Carpenter of a leadoff homer. It was not a routine fly to right, but an over-the-wall snatch that even Toglia himself remarked was worthy of going into his personal highlight reel.
This pivotal play gave Cal Quantrill five scoreless innings, but more importantly it gave the Rockies some rekindled fight that seemed to show that the work put in at the top of the fifth was not going to be wasted as it often has been in the past. The two stolen bases of Brenton Doyle and the one stolen by Jake Cave got the Rockies to scoring position in time to capitalize on a single, a walk, and a wild pitch to put purple people on the board with three at the top of the fifth. Often the Rockies this season have scored some earned runs only to have them voided immediately by answering runs from the other bench, but Toglia prevented this trend in this play.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Rockies brought Toglia into first base to replace Elehuris Montero and sent Greg Jones to right. Maybe it was to give Montero a break after making an incredible out when he snagged a grounder that was most of the way toward second. Maybe it was to give Jones an inning of field time in his first major league game this season. Or maybe it was just to bring Toglia in for some hot-streaking defensive momentum against the top of the Cardinals’ order in the bottom of the 9th of a one-run game.
For whatever reason Bud Black had, it all worked to hold on to that lead. Tyler Kinley even managed to make the save and end the game with a strong finish by forcing Nolan Gorman to fan a slider and give the Rockies the win to break their latest losing streak.
