DENVER -- Ryan Ritter celebrated his Major League debut by adding some history to what has been quite exciting Rockies baseball of late.
Ritter, called up from Triple-A Albuquerque to replace injured shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, became the first player in club history to triple for his first Major League hit. It came in the fifth inning Friday night, off Mets starter Kodai Senga, the Rockies' 4-2 loss at Coors Field.
“I was trying to not swing on first pitch in the second at-bat, and work a count,” said Ritter, whose first at-bat was a first-pitch groundout to third base. “Then it was 2-0 and I was like, ‘All right, here we go. This is the time to put the ball in play and do some damage.’
“It went to left-center. I didn’t look. I kept running, because I knew Coors is deep in the gaps.”
Ritter, 24 and ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Rockies’ No. 11 prospect, looked toward the stands at 20 family members and friends -- including his parents and six siblings -- to acknowledge the excitement. He estimates he will have 30 folks at the game Saturday night.
As has been the case for the Rockies all season, not everything went his or the Rockies’ way. But, as has been the case the last couple of weeks, the Rockies created some excitement that may, eventually, lead to some success.
Right after the triple, Ritter was ruled to have scored on Mickey Moniak’s grounder, but replay showed that Mets first baseman Pete Alonso’s throw and catcher Francisco Alvarez’s tag beat him.
Francisco Lindor’s two-run double, on an inside and off-the-plate cutter from Zach Agnos, in the ninth broke a tie. Ritter, who struck out on a 97 mph fastball on the outside corner from Mets closer Edwin Díaz in the bottom of the ninth, left with an attitude that fits right in with a club that is tied with the 1932 Red Sox for worst 63-game start in modern history (12-51) but seeing the beginnings of a future.
Ritter, a fourth-round MLB Draft pick out of the University of Kentucky in 2022, joined a team full of players who spent time in Albuquerque and are attempting to establish themselves.
The Rockies ended an MLB-record run of 22 series losses dating to last year, and earned their first sweep in more than a year at Miami this week. Before that, one win and seven of their previous nine losses were by one run or two.
“We're all optimistic,” Ritter said. “We’ve got a lot of good things going on up here and down there. So we’ve got to keep going every day, and one day, something's going to click.”
Ritter certainly clicked at Albuquerque in May, when he earned Rockies and Pacific Coast League Player of the Month honors by posting a slash line of .381/.445/.918 with 12 home runs, 31 RBIs, 10 doubles and three triples in 24 games.
Until Tovar left Monday night’s game with a left oblique strain, it wasn’t clear whether the standout month would earn Ritter a phone call. That was especially true after the Rockies signed Orlando Arcia, a former Braves starting shortstop, last week.
Tovar landed on the 10-day injured list on Friday, but Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer had given Ritter plenty of time to gain focus ahead of the move. He summoned Ritter to Denver on Wednesday and sent him the starting lineup on Thursday. Schaeffer was happy with the decision by the time Friday was done.
“That was fantastic,” Schaeffer said. “I’m just happy for him in his first game to get a big knock, a leadoff triple. It’s exciting. You can’t lose sight of how important it is for guys to come up and play in front of their family for their debut.”
Ritter also can be used at second base and third base, which would give rest days to Arcia, second baseman Thairo Estrada and third baseman Ryan McMahon, or opportunities to stay in the lineup as designated hitter. So chances should keep coming.
“I just think about how I belong, so I don't try to make it more than it is,“ Ritter said. “But it's awesome to be out there with guys that are really successful at competing. So it's awesome to be the center of attention, one on one. It’s fun.”