DENVER – After hitting his way into the All-Star Game for the second straight year, Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman powered himself into another line in the club’s record book.
Goodman knocked three home runs to lift his season total to 30 and spiced up a game that was trending toward a blowout. The Rockies rallied late but fell to the Reds, 9-6, at Coors Field, dropping their first series of the second half.
Goodman became the first player in club history to have more than one three-homer game in a season. Three others have had at least two -- Hall of Famers Larry Walker (who had three) and Todd Helton, and multi-time All-Star Carlos González.
“It’s definitely cool, knowing all the guys, the great players that played here,” said Goodman, who accomplished the feat for the first time in an 8-5 victory over the Twins at Target Field on June 27.
The performance could be the first step in changing what can be seen as a combination of an outstanding feat and a statistical anomaly. Goodman is third in the Majors in home runs, behind the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber (33) and the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez (31).
The oddity has been the fact he leads the Majors in road homers with 18, even though he plays in a hitter-friendly park. Goodman never worried himself much about the reasons why, and days like Sunday show that things could have a way leveling out with time.
It’s a swing that can provide power anywhere.
“His body looks like it’s flowing right,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He looks dangerous. He just looks in sync. Today he hit three homers. Obviously, he looks really good. And you can see the confidence seep out of him.”
It was a good day at Coors for homers -- especially for catchers. The Reds’ Tyler Stephenson homered twice. His first-inning blast accounted for two of the eight runs allowed by Rockies starter Ryan Feltner, who lasted just 2 1/3 innings (and had nothing but his fastball). Stephenson's second came against mostly effective reliever Tanner Gordon.
Goodman’s first two homers were all the Rockies could muster against effective Reds starter Hunter Greene. The first came on a first-inning slider, and the second was a two-run shot in the sixth on a rare Greene fastball that caught too much of the plate.
In the eighth, Goodman added a two-run shot against lefty Sam Moll. When Willi Castro led off the ninth with his ninth homer of the year, suddenly the Rockies had given themselves a chance.
“I feel like we’ve done that all year,” Goodman said. “The stats in the eighth inning and beyond [a Majors-leading 136 runs], we’re leading all of baseball, so we never feel like we’re out of it. We’ve got a chance to keep doing that.”
Still, Feltner’s struggles left the Rockies 10-21 in series finales, including 3-10 in deciding games -- a Majors-low .231 winning percentage. Offensively, games like
Saturday’s 10-3 victory show up periodically, but the Rockies need more consistency.
“I think we will, especially as more and more of our guys get more and more at-bats as the season goes on,” Goodman said. “I expect us to keep getting better.”