DENVER -- It’s not as if emerging Rockies lineup force Jordan Beck had any collegiate familiarity with -- or, as far as anyone knows -- Southeastern Conference contempt for Pirates right-handed ace Paul Skenes.
It’s true that Beck played at Tennessee, and Skenes finished up at LSU, and those teams have healthy and mutual contempt. But Skenes left the Air Force Academy and landed at LSU in 2023. The Rockies plucked Beck from the Vols 38th overall in ‘22.
Either way, Beck had Skenes’ number Saturday afternoon, with a walk, a single and a game-changing three-run homer during a six-run sixth inning in an 8-5 victory. It occurred a day after the Rockies faced a nine-run deficit before their first turn at bat, yet won, 17-16, on Brenton Doyle’s two-run walk-off homer.
“I would have liked to have faced him before,” Beck said. “It would have been good advice for the guys today, going into it, but I didn’t get to see him. But he’s a good pitcher, probably another Cy Young candidate. We just got to him today.”
This Beck-led rebound was not as flamboyant an exercise as the previous night. But the 1.83 ERA that the All-Star Skenes brought to Coors Field made it seem unlikely that the Rox would snatch the game under his watch. And it was the fifth time in Rockies history and first since 2016 that the Rockies have won consecutive games after trailing by four or more runs.
Skenes had a 4-0 lead -- three runs coming on two of Liover Peguero's three homers, with the first two off starter Austin Gomber -- and eight strikeouts entering the sixth, when Mickey Moniak singled and Ezequiel Tovar walked. Beck's first-inning walk and fourth-inning, one-out single gave the Rockies their only baserunners to that point.. With runners finally aboard, Beck jumped on Skenes’ middle-middle, 98.7 mph sinker and drove it off the top of the fence and into the Rockies’ bullpen in right field for his 13th home run of the season.
“The previous ABs, I hadn’t swung at the first pitch, so be aggressive for his first-pitch fastball,” Beck said. “That’s one I just ran into.”
It was more calculated than that. Skenes has some of the best fastballs in the game, whether at the top or bottom of the zone. The Rockies decided to look for it and prevent him from getting to his strong secondary pitches.
“He [Beck] handled that heater away really good to bring us back in the game,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It’s a momentum shot right in the arm for us. His at-bats all day were good against probably the best pitcher in the league.”
The homer was the first of more than two runs in the 46 starts of Skenes’ already stellar Major League career.
“It’s probably just that he doesn’t have very many people on base,” Beck said. “I guess it’s pretty cool. I’ll take the homer and we’ll go with that.”
Beck has reached base in 15 of his last 18 games, and is coming off a sizzling July with a .314 batting average. The performance has solidified Beck as the No. 3 hitter for Schaeffer, who took over for Bud Black in May and set about convincing the Rox that the past months are largely irrelevant.
Ask Schaeffer about the 30-80 record, and he’ll tell you the Rox are 8-6 since the All-Star break. And his mostly young squad will back him. The Rockies have won just three series at home -- the last three, all after the All-Star break.
“We played a lot of games in a row, then the All-Star break was a good reset for us,” Beck said. “We came back in the second half, even after the trades and stuff happened, and felt like, ‘All right, we got what we got. Let’s do it.’”
From Beck’s homer, Warming Bernabel doubled to chase Skenes. The hit gave Bernabel eight extra-base hits in his first seven Rockies career games for a club record. Trevor Story had seven extra-base hits in his first seven games in 2016. Reliever Braxton Ashcraft absorbed RBI hits from Doyle and Austin Nola (a double), and an RBI fielder’s choice from Orlando Arcia.
The add-ons included an Arcia solo homer in the eighth as the Rockies celebrated Air Force Day -- with the Stellar Brass group performing the anthem and a flyover. Skenes visited the Academy in Colorado Springs on Thursday, with the Pirates off.
Then with a significant number of fans cheering Skenes and the Pirates, more cheering the Rockies and no doubt some supporting both, Beck made it his day.
“It shows a good direction of where we’re going,” Beck said. “It’s also way more fun for the fan to watch, too.”