Jake Cave has been a sparkplug for the Rockies this season, running down flyballs in the outfield, taking extra bases and pumping up his teammates.
Thursday night, Cave provided the fireworks.
His solo homer to dead center in the sixth inning lifted Colorado to a 4-3 win over Milwaukee in front of an Independence Day crowd of 48,705 at Coors Field.
Cave’s first homer of the season came on a 1-0 fastball by Brewers starter Tobias Myers. The dinger, which traveled 430 feet, was Cave’s first since Aug. 20 of last season when he played for the Phillies. It snapped a streak of 208 at-bats without a homer.
When he got to the dugout, Cave was treated with the silent treatment, a tradition usually reserved for rookies who hit their first career homer. Third baseman Ryan McMahon was the instigator.
“That’s awesome,” said Cave, who entered Thursday with the fourth-longest active homerless at-bat streak in the majors. “I’ve done it to guys before, too. I was so pumped up I didn’t know what was happening at first as I came down the stairs.
“Then I realized they were doing the silent treatment. It was cool. It was fun.”
Manager Bud Black was thrilled for Cave, someone who plays with the kind of passion that Black loves.
“He’s playing a great all-around game over the last couple of months,” Black said. “He knows how to play. He brings great energy every day, in the dugout and in the clubhouse. He’s gritty.
“He’s capable of (hitting a homer) and I’ll go out there and say that there’s some more coming.”
Colorado right-hander Cal Quantrill battled, as he always does. He gave himself a C grade for his outing.
“I see my job as giving my team a chance to win every fifth day,” Quantrill said. “Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s hard. Tonight it was exceptionally hard. I really didn’t have very good stuff. But the way I look at it, if it’s a ‘C’ game and the team gets a win, it’s hard not to be excited about that.”
Quantrill departed after five innings with Colorado holding a 3-2 lead. He gave up five hits, struck out two and walked four. The four free passes stung him, and he failed to get a quality start for just the third time in his last 12 starts.
But the bottom line was that the right-hander set the Rockies up for victory, and he has a 3.03 ERA in those 12 starts, dating back to May 3.
The Rockies held their breath in the third inning when Quantrill walked gingerly off the field. He fielded William Contreras’ swinging bunt in front of the mound and fired a strike to first to nip Contreras for the inning’s final out. But Quantrill fell during his throw and came up limping slightly. He said he “slightly tweaked” his hamstring.
Quantrill was not sharp in the fourth when he walked three batters to load the bases and paid the price when Andruw Monasterio blooped a two-run single to right, cutting Colorado’s lead to 3-2. Quantrill said the hamstring was not to blame for the three walks.
“I was just trying to be too fine,” he said.
The Brewers tied the game in the sixth off reliever Anthony Molina. Jackson Chourio scorched an RBI double to center, scoring Rhys Hoskins, who drew a one-out walk.
Timely hits gave the Rockies an early 3-0 lead. Charlie Blackmon led off the first with a single, advanced to second on Ezequiel Tovar’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Ryan McMahon’s opposite-field double to left.
In the second, Blackmon’s two-run, pop-up, hustle double to shallow right scored Michael Toglia and Sam Hilliard.
Colorado’s much-maligned, rickety bullpen finally delivered in the clutch. Right-hander Tyler Kinley pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and lefty Jalen Beeks pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his seventh save.
Beek’s biggest out was striking out pinch-hitter Garrett Mitchell looking at a 96 mph fastball for the final out of the eighth inning with two men on base. Beeks set the Brewers down in order in the ninth, getting All-Star Christian Yelich to chop out to first for the final out.
Friday’s pitching matchup
Royals LHP Cole Ragans (5-6, 3.33 ERA) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-3, 7.94)
6:10 p.m. Friday, Coors Field
TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).
Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM
Freeland has pitched brilliantly in his two starts since coming off the injured list, posting a 1.42 ERA despite not getting a victory. In his last start against the White Sox, the lefty notched his 751st career strikeout, surpassing Pedro Astacio for the fifth most in franchise history. He also tied Jeff Francis for the third-most starts in franchise history (185). In seven career starts vs. Milwaukee, Freeland is 4-2 with a 2.36 ERA.
Ragan is coming off a rough outing vs. Cleveland in which he was charged with the loss when he allowed five runs on six hits over 4 2/3 innings. Entering Thursday’s play, he ranked second in the American League with 126 strikeouts. His 215 strikeouts are the most by a Royals pitcher through 30 starts to begin a stint with the franchise. Ragans has made one career appearance against the Rockies, tossing two scoreless innings in relief on May 20, 2023, at Globe Life Field as a member of the Rangers’ bullpen.
Pitching probables
Saturday: Royals RHP Seth Lugo (11-2, 2.17) at Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (1-5, 4.72), 7:10 p.m.
Sunday: Royals RHP Brady Singer (4-5, 3.05) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-7, 5.60), 1:10 p.m.
— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
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