The Colorado Rockies took on the Miami Marlins in a doubleheader in Denver on Wednesday to start June. It was a day that began with the Marlins blowing out the Rockies in game one. It wrapped up with a back and forth game of the year candidate in game two featuring heroics from Rockies’ second baseman Brendan Rodgers.
A Duel in Denver
The Rockies came into game two of the doubleheader in need of some good energy after losing 14-1 in the initial game of the day.
2nd Inning
The game moved into the bottom of the 2nd with the Rockies looking to get on the board first. Brendan Rodgers stepped to the plate and launched the second pitch into the bullpens in right field to give the Rockies an early 1-0 lead.
That would only be the beginning of an absurd game at the plate for both teams.
3rd Inning
Moving into the bottom of the 3rd the Rockies were suddenly down 3-2. With two outs and nobody on, Rodgers stepped to the plate and drew a huge walk. That walk sparked a big inning as he later scored the first of three runs on a bases-clearing triple by Ryan McMahon to put the Rockies up 5-3.
5th Inning
The next time Rodgers stepped into the box was to lead off the bottom of the 5th. Just like his last at-bat, the Marlins had retaken the lead and this time the Rockies were down 7-5.
On a 2-2 pitch, Rodgers smacked a ball deep into the left-field bleachers for another solo homer to make it 7-6. That was the beginning of a six-run inning, which oddly enough ended with Rodgers striking out.
10th Inning
After the 6th inning, both offenses cooled down a little and the game headed into extra innings tied at 11. The Marlins had a chance for a big inning but were only able to scratch one run across. The Rockies came to bat down 12-11.
For the 3rd time in the game, the hitter slatted to lead off an inning for the Rockies was Rodgers. This was a huge moment for a man who already had three huge moments at the plate up to this point. With the automatic runner on second and a full count, Rodgers whacked a pitch over the left-field fence for a walk-off two-run homer.
In a game that went 4:14 and saw a combined 25 runs on 29 hits, 14 walks and six homers, it was only right that it featured a historic individual performance and ended with a wild walk-off.
A Career Performance
Brendan Rodgers came up with the Rockies in 2019, but in his first two seasons, he only played a combined 32 games. It was not until 2021 that he played consistently and appeared in 102 games. He put up a .284 batting average where he recorded 15 homers and 51 RBIs.
So far in 2022, he has played in 40 of the Rockies’ 50 games. He has not proven himself as a power hitter yet, but maybe this was the game to change that. He came into today with only two homers and after this game, he has five.
This was the first career multi-homer game in his young career and it is extra special that he imprinted his name in the history books by hitting three including the walk-off shot.
He became the 14th Rockies hitter to post a three-homer game since the start of the century. The last to do it was Ryan McMohan who did it on April 6th, 2021 against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Brendan Rodgers put on a clinic for the Rockies in game two of a doubleheader against the Marlins. Apparently, the key for Rodgers is to lead off innings because he led off three times and all three resulted in huge homers. Whether or not he is leading off games from now on, hopefully, he can keep this momentum and help get the Rockies back to winning ways.
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