DENVER -- The long ball returned to Rockies first baseman TJ Rumfield’s strong rookie season on Tuesday night.
Rumfield’s two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh lifted the Rockies to a 4-2 victory over the Orioles -- ending a losing streak at six games and club-record home losing streak at 10 games. It was his first homer since July 18.
Home runs aren’t everything. 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. He is three walks from Dexter Fowler’s 2009 Rockies rookie record of 67. He leads National League rookies in batting (.290) and on-base percentage (.384).
But homers can be the best play. September callup Adael Amador had one in the Rockies’ two-run second inning. Five innings later, the Rockies truly needed Rumfield’s 14th homer of the season.
The homer came left-on-left against debuting Orioles No. 7 prospect Luis De León. More importantly, it came with the game tied – mainly because Colorado was 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position at that moment.
Jackson Holliday had tied the game in the top of the seventh with a two-out solo homer off Jaden Hill. But in the bottom half, 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 but dropped Mickey Moniak’s leadoff pop-up for a two-base error.