The Rockies needed something to snap them out of the skid, and Cole Carrigg delivered a night that gave them exactly that.
Colorado came into Tuesday at Coors Field carrying a lot of baggage: a six-game road trip that ended in sweeps by the Yankees and Tigers, then an eight-game losing streak that grew with Monday’s loss to the Padres. The slide had pushed the Rockies to 95 losses, and the season was starting to look like another long one. Then they beat San Diego 9-3, ending both their own losing streak and the Padres’ eight-game run.
Carrigg was right in the middle of it. The 24-year-old outfielder homered in the third inning, then came back up in the sixth with a chance at the cycle.
He didn’t get the triple. He got something even louder.
After working through a long battle with Randy Vásquez and fouling off pitch after pitch, Carrigg blasted his second homer of the night 415 feet into the Denver night. Colorado had trailed 3-2 before erupting for five runs in the inning, and the swing helped turn the game into a six-run win.
Warren Schaeffer didn’t try to dress it up.
“That was the at-bat of the year. He hit I don't know how many foul balls hard, smoked them,” Schaeffer said, per Thomas Harding of MLB.com. “Then, a huge, huge homer, at exactly the right time.”
For a Rockies team that has spent much of the year fighting through another difficult season, Carrigg’s night stood out for more than just the box score. He’s one of the players beginning to make a real case as part of the club’s future, and Tuesday was another reminder of why.
Colorado’s fourth straight 100-loss season still appears likely, and the work ahead for president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes will take time. But nights like this matter. They’re the kind that show progress, even when the standings still tell a tough story.
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