'Baseball will whisper to you, or it will scream at you,' and Rox rookie answered

DENVER – Rookie first baseman TJ Rumfield listened closely, then swung big, hitting a two-run homer that gave the Rockies an exhaling 4-2 victory over the Orioles at Coors Field on Tuesday night.

“Baseball will whisper to you, or it will scream at you,” Rumfield said. “In that situation, it was screaming at me to do something.”

The shot – left-on-left off debuting Orioles No. 7 prospect Luis De León – was his 14th homer of a season worthy of National League Rookie of the Year consideration, but his first since July 18. It was timely in that it helped the Rockies end their losing streak at six games and their club-record home losing streak at 10 games. And it came with the team 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position until that moment.

But Rumfield, 26, took the power swing because it was the right one. If anything can be learned from a season in which Rumfield leads NL rookies in batting average (.290) and on-base percentage (.384), it’s that he’s not going to let a period devoid of home runs change him.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about it – I mean, everybody loves their home runs,” he said. “But like I said last week, I play baseball, not home run ball. I’m here to get on base and do whatever I need to help my team win.”

Although he has no desire to play “home run ball,” Rumfield found it curious that he was playing “walk ball.” Rumfield’s 1-for-3 night with a walk made him 9-for-26 with 14 walks and just three strikeouts in his last nine games.

“I was talking to [assistant bench coach Ron] Gideon today and he asked me, ‘Did you ever think you’d be walking like this?’” Rumfield said. “I answered him truthfully. ‘No. I’m just not getting anything to hit.’ And if I start chasing stuff, they’re going to really start getting me out. So I was just going to sit back and wait for my time.

“When it’s the right time, like tonight, take your shot.”

September callup Adael Amador took his shot with a solo homer in the Rockies’ two-run second inning. Five innings later, Rumfield heard the call.

Jackson Holliday had tied the game in the top of the seventh with a two-out solo homer off Jaden Hill. It was an ominous time. Colorado’s last three losses were by one run; the one before that by two. Outstanding ninth-inning defensive plays – including one by Orioles center fielder Colton Cowser to rob Jake McCarthy of a walk-off home run to end Monday night’s game – plus the inability to deliver late in close games left the Rockies forcing smiles.

“We joke about it in the dugout,” Rumfield said. “We’re like, ‘We are just going through it with this bad luck.’”

But in the bottom half of the seventh, Holliday ended up the unwitting co-star of Rumfield’s return to power when he ranged from his second-base position to short right field and dropped Mickey Moniak’s leadoff popup. Moniak hustled his way to second base, then scored on Rumfield's homer two batters later.

“[Rumfield has] been taking great at-bats all year,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “Lately he’s been walking with not a lot of thump in there. But tonight, that was a huge swing of the bat. He was due for a homer, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.”