On his first try, Kris Bryant made loud, clean contact and got punished with a waste of 405 feet. On his second try, he accidentally halved his swing for twice as good a result.

As backward as the outcomes were when Bryant came to bat twice with the bases loaded Tuesday night, he stuck to the first approach later on. In his second game back from the injured list, Bryant delivered a go-ahead solo home run in the sixth inning against his former team, and the Rockies held on for a 6-4 win over the Cubs at Coors Field.

Colorado (52-92) snapped a five-game losing streak thanks to Bryant’s three RBIs, multiple don’t-you-dare outfield arms and Justin Lawrence’s save. Chicago stranded the tying runs on base in a tense ninth that ended with a Lawrence strikeout.

“They’re obviously in the playoff hunt,” Bryant said. “Just to do it against some old friends and kind of make it a little bit harder for them, it feels great. They look great over there. They’ve got a great team. But we’re trying to do all we can to not let them win here.”

The first time the game found Bryant was in the bottom of the second. After a two-out pop-up dropped into a Bermuda’s Triangle of Cubs fielders along the right field line — foreshadowing — the Rockies extended the inning to Bryant, trailing 2-0. With the bases loaded, he drove a ball to the deepest area of the ballpark. Pete Crow-Armstrong, who remarkably gobbled up everything hit to center in his first career start, ranged over to render Bryant’s power harmless.

“I’ve seen a lot of highlights of that kid out in center field when he was in the minors,” Colorado center fielder Brenton Doyle said. “… After this series, I’ll be excited to watch him play even more.”

Bryant thought the out was his best swing of the night, even after the home run. It was a sinker inside that he managed to power so deep. “That’s a big sign for me,” he said. “Because essentially this is feeling like spring training to me. Just taking time off and then getting right back into games.”

It was the same score, same scenario (only with one out) next time he batted. Jammed by a down-and-in pitch he didn’t plan to make contact with — especially if the ball was anywhere close to his freshly recovered finger fracture — Bryant checked his swing. But his bat unwittingly poked a blooper down the right field line anyway, near the exact spot the pop-up had dropped earlier.

It went into the scorebook as a two-run, game-tying infield single and sparked two more runs in the inning. Bryant couldn’t hide his look of shock even as he ran out of the batter’s box.

“Might be the best hit of my career,” he said. “It’s nice to have some luck on your side. I’ve done that a couple times, check swinging, but it never makes it to the outfield. I barreled it up.”

When he got back to the dugout, manager Bud Black and the rest of the Rockies’ peanut gallery let Bryant hear it with their golf wedge jokes.

“I think a few of us mentioned that he’s gotta take that shot back to Las Vegas in the wintertime,” Black said. “On No. 13 at Shadow Creek.”

Bryant used his driver two innings later.

After the game had already found him twice, he found his own game-defining moment against the team with whom he won an MVP and World Series. The line-drive homer to left-center was his ninth this season and 14th with the Rockies, another signal of hope so soon after missing 44 games.

“With no rehab, too, just kind of going in there and playing baseball,” Bryant said. “Feels better than most home runs.”

Umpire out again

Brian O’Nora, the home plate umpire Monday who left the field in the third inning and didn’t return, was absent from the four-man crew Tuesday. He’s considered day-to-day with an illness, according to the league.

Brian Walsh replaced O’Nora. After he ran into the Rockies’ dugout during the series opener, the rest of the game was played with a three-man umpire crew.

Outfield defense

Rockies starter Chris Flexen was far from perfect, but he managed to outlast the recently scorching Javier Assad. In 5 1/3 innings, Flexen struck out five and was responsible for only three runs despite nine Chicago hits off him.

He was aided by the arms of his teammates. Doyle threw out Cody Bellinger trying to stretch a hit into a double to end the first inning. (It would’ve been runners at second and third.) Charlie Blackmon fired a strike from the right-field corner to his relay man, helping deny Nick Madrigal a triple. And Elias Diaz handled a bouncing pitch to cut down Crow-Armstrong in an attempt to take second.

Wednesday’s pitching matchup

Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon (7-9, 5.27 ERA) at Rockies LHP Ty Blach (2-1, 4.58 ERA)

1:10 p.m. Wednesday, Coors Field

TV: AT&T SportsNet

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM

Blach is hoping to right the ship after consecutive rocky starts. Last week in San Francisco, the Giants hit three home runs off him. He gave up eight or more hits in both of the last two outings, posting a 7.36 ERA. This will be Blach’s 17th appearance of the year, his 10th consecutive start and his seventh career appearance against the Cubs. He earned a clean five outs vs. Chicago at Coors field last season, but his last start against the Cubs lasted only three innings as he allowed five runs at Wrigley Field in 2018. Taillon comes into his third career start vs. Colorado with a 1.29 ERA against the club in 14 innings. He threw a complete game at Coors Field in 2018 while he was with the Pirates. He’s entering this start after hurling six scoreless innings Sept. 8 against Arizona. In his last five starts, Taillon has struck out 31 and only walked two, but he hasn’t recorded a win since Aug. 8.

Pitching probables

Thursday: Giants TBA at Rockies RHP Chase Anderson (0-5, 6.49), 6:40 p.m., ATTRM

Friday: Giants TBA at Rockies TBA, 6:40 p.m., ATTRM

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