Three hours before the return of Charlie Blackmon, Rockies manager Bud Black attempted to manifest osmosis.
Now that Colorado’s young hitters could finally observe the lineup’s bearded bastion of contact hitting in action, Black reasoned, they could absorb and replicate Blackmon’s experienced approach at the plate.
It took eight often-aggravating innings, but his intuition was right.
The Rockies rallied for a 6-4 series-opening win over the Diamondbacks on Monday night to welcome back Blackmon, who returned to the top of the lineup after missing 52 games with a fractured hand. He went 2 for 3 with a walk and set the table in the bottom of the eighth with a leadoff infield single, beating out a close play. Colorado trailed 4-2 at the time; it had been 4-1 in the sixth before an Ezequiel Tovar home run.
“Chuck beat out a ground ball up the middle, because of course he did, obviously,” said Nolan Jones, who singled home the game-winning run later in the inning. “… He’s the hardest worker I’ve ever seen.”
The Rockies assembled a comeback built of singles — two more after Blackmon’s, loading the bases with nobody out, then another two up the middle to score the tying and go-ahead runs with one out. Brenden Rodgers drove in the first two, then the rookie Jones made it 5-4. All six hits in the inning were singles.
“I do think there’s an osmosis that rubs off,” Black said before the game, speaking to the encouraging power of Blackmon’s presence.
How to describe it afterward?
“When he walks through the clubhouse doors, you just feel better about it,” Black said. “It’s like a starting pitcher who’s a stud, when it’s his day to pitch. It’s like it’s win day.”
The series started with anti-osmosis in one of the consummate sequences of the Rockies’ season. Blackmon, accompanied by The Outfield’s “Your Love” and Coors Field applause for the first time since June 10, fastened his batting gloves and drew a walk. A hearty, desperately needed leadoff walk after a four-game series in which Colorado hitters struck out 49 times and walked only twice.
The next three Rockies struck out.
“We’re getting frustrated,” Jones said. “I think that’s a given. We don’t want to strike out. It’s going to be there. We’re working through it.”
Blackmon’s walk turned out to be the only one his team earned all night, but Colorado didn’t allow that fitting prologue to sum up the game. Even after Diamondbacks starting pitcher Merrill Kelly cruised through six mostly spotless innings. He finished with 11 strikeouts and just two solo home runs allowed, keeping his ERA steady at 3.05. It took the arrival of Arizona’s bullpen for the Rockies to simplify their collective approach.
“Hitting breeds hitting,” Blackmon said. “If I see someone in front of me get a hit, I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll just do that.’”
Chris Flexen did his best to mitigate Kelly’s shutdown stuff. Considering he entered the start with a 7.92 ERA and a .343 batting average against him this season, lasting six innings for the first time since April 17 was a promising sign for the ex-Mariner. Flexen even set down 12 consecutive batters after giving up an RBI double in the second inning — his outfield defense was subpar early in the night — and reached a season-high six strikeouts himself.
Just as he was on the verge of a quality start, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. singled, then Christian Walker belted his 25th home run of the season to the opposite field to open the three-run lead in the sixth. In 2023, Flexen has allowed 18 homers in 61 innings and change.
“I thought I attacked the zone pretty well tonight,” Flexen said. “Felt pretty sharp. Felt like I was on top of my stuff.”
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