DENVER -- In better times, an Ezequiel Tovar at-bat to lead off the ninth inning is a chance to spark the Rockies.
The Rockies’ six-run lead two innings into Friday night’s game had evaporated, as the Braves scored seven runs in the final three frames to take the lead. Stuff like that happens at Coors Field, but sometimes a guy like Tovar -- shortstop, leader, budding star -- can swing momentum back to the home team.
But not Tovar right now. Tovar grounded out, the rally never happened and the Rockies lost, 8-6. That happens, as do losses like Friday’s. But it’s how Braves reliever Robert Suarez -- and many other pitchers these days -- defeated Tovar that has been a concerning aspect of Tovar’s .197 batting average.
It was a competitive eight-pitch at-bat. But six of the pitches were four-seam fastballs. Even at his best, Tovar has a tendency to chase breaking balls out of the strike zone. But he can hit breaking balls left in the zone and he has a history of solid slugging against fastballs.
But Tovar isn’t hitting the fastball these days. He came into the night batting .157 with a .235 slugging percentage against the pitch this year, according to Statcast. Even in an injury-filled 2025, he slugged .376 against heaters, and he never slugged worse than .402 previously.
Tovar has seen and been through enough in three-plus seasons as one of the players the Rockies are counting on for leadership that folks have to remind him that he is just 24.
But this is a new one on him.
“It’s the first time I’m going through that, specifically facing a slump, especially with the fastball,” Tovar said in Spanish, with Edwin Perez interpreting. “But I think this is also going to be a good learning aspect, because the next time I go through a slump against fastballs, maybe I’ll get out of that slump quicker just learning these lessons and things that I’m going through right now.”
The Braves challenged Tovar to find his way on Friday.
During the five-run Rockies first inning, Braves starter Grant Holmes threw Tovar two sliders, with the second garnering a fly ball. Then Holmes fanned Tovar in the third using fastballs on three of four pitches, including the final two strikes. Former teammate Anthony Molina walked him on six pitches -- all fastballs -- in the sixth.
Suarez’s approach in the ninth meant that Tovar saw fastballs in 15 of 20 pitches.
“Tovie looks a little in-between right now between the heater and the breaking ball,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said before the game. “He knows that he chases a lot. He’s working his tail off to try to not do that.
“Sometimes when you do that, you get off the heater a little bit. He’s just going through a little rough spell right now. I have complete confidence that he’s going to come out of it and get on track, because he’s too good of a ballpayer not to.”
Until he becomes the Tovar the Rockies have seen, there could be moves like late in Thursday’s 6-4 loss at Cincinnati. Schaeffer removed him for pinch-hitter Edouard Jullien in the seventh inning, knowing the Rockies would see hard-throwing relievers the rest of the way. One reason the Rockies signed versatile switch-hitting Willi Castro was to spell Tovar at shortstop, although the plan wasn’t to remove him because of his slump.
A couple of weeks ago, Tovar felt he was heating up because he was making better contact than the numbers showed. But even then, hitting coach Brett Pill noticed that he wasn’t hitting the fastball and was exploring on-field and training-room methods to put Tovar in position to hit the pitch.
Tovar is keeping thoughts simple.
“I’m looking at my swing -- the swing that has given me success over the last few years, and it’s the same swing,” he said. “I don’t think, when I look at the videos, that it’s an issue with the swing. It’s specifically the timing. That’s the biggest thing right now.”
Tovar is making the tough defensive play now, trying to keep his thoughts with a team that has generally played well. It didn’t maintain an early lead, and relievers became walk-prone until Michael Harris II homered for two runs in the top of the ninth to give the Braves the lead on Friday.
“You’ve got to turn the page,” Tovar said. “You go through these moments. You learn from it. But when you hone in on it, that’s when it can cause issues. Tomorrow’s a new day to show what we can do.”
Like pitches heading Tovar’s way, tomorrow comes fast.