Here's how Doyle has been the NL's best hitter in the second half

PITTSBURGH -- Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle has learned to appreciate a day off.

After playing in eight straight games in the taxing atmosphere at Coors Field, Doyle didn’t play in Friday’s loss to the Pirates.

“I took it easy -- I mean, center field at Coors is not a joke,” said Doyle, who limited his activity to light batting cage work and tracking balls from center field at unfamiliar PNC Park. “During a stretch like this, it’s important to get the body some rest.”

Doyle responded to the respite with two hits, including a ninth-inning homer, in Saturday night’s 5-1 loss to the Pirates.

After batting .202 in 82 games before the All-Star break, Doyle leads the NL among qualified players in batting average (.400) and OPS (1.099) since the All-Star break. Overall, he is batting .247 with a .694 OPS. He also has hit half of his 14 home runs this month. Also, the two-time Gold Glove-winning Doyle made a sliding catch of a Tommy Pham drive to end the third, and the big defensive plays are happening with regularity.

“Regardless of how I’m going offensively, I’m always going to play super hard out there on defense,” Doyle said. “Confidence-wise, when you’re going good on both sides of the ball, it makes everything easier and slows everything down.”

Doyle, 27, is playing for a team that would like to slow to a stop.

Friday, in a 9-0 loss, and Saturday -- when starting lefty pitcher Kyle Freeland struck out six, but yielded five runs on seven hits overall (including two two-run homers) -- the Rockies have looked like a team in need of an off-day.

Sunday’s finale with the Pirates will be the end of a 17-day stretch of games that started in the desert in Arizona, carried to humid St. Louis, then moved to a long stretch at altitude at home and finally to Pittsburgh.

More stifling humidity awaits the Rockies in Houston, but they don’t play there until Tuesday.

Manager Warren Schaeffer tried to space out the days off on his roster throughout the stretch, and results were solid. The team took two of three at St. Louis and three of four at home against the Diamondbacks before splitting four at Coors against the Dodgers.

But the lineup managed three hits Friday and six on Saturday against some impressive Pirates arms – Braxton Ashcraft and debuting No. 7 overall (tops among pitchers) MLB Pipeline prospect Bubba Chandler on Friday; chiefly Mike Burrows and Carmen Mlodzinski on Saturday.

Part of Doyle's improvement has come from Schaeffer slowing his workload. Doyle played in 149 games last year, which was fine when he improved his OPS from .593 as a rookie in 2023 to .763.

Schaeffer, who became interim manager on May 12 after the team parted ways with Bud Black, ended an experiment with Doyle in the leadoff spot and has been using him primarily in spots 5-7. Shaeffer increased the use of left-handed-hitting Mickey Moniak in an arrangement close to a platoon. Now that Doyle’s swing has improved, Schaeffer has picked spots to use Doyle in favorable right-on-right matchups with increased frequency.

Still, Doyle has not participated in 21 games this year. He sat out just 13 times last year.

A fresher Doyle is producing.

“I’m just so happy for him,” Schaeffer said. “He’s been going through it all year, one thing after another. For him to finally catch hold and do what he’s capable of -- what we all know he’s capable of -- that’s just been great.”