DENVER -- Hunter Goodman has spent a month producing, only to have it overshadowed by the Rockies’ struggles. One would think a game like he had Sunday afternoon would earn him top billing.
Goodman homered, tripled and doubled before he flied out in the eighth inning with a possible cycle on his bat. The Rockies won for just the seventh time in 40 games, 9-3 over the Padres at Coors Field.
Then the clubhouse music celebrating the end of Rockies’ third eight-game losing streak of the season stopped quickly.
General manager Bill Schmidt gathered the club to announce that ninth-year manager Bud Black and bench coach Mike Redmond were relieved of their duties. Third-base coach Warren Schaeffer was promoted to interim manager and recently hired interim hitting coach Clint Hurdle was installed as bench coach.
Can’t a man have his day? Goodman parked a three-run homer in the first inning and a two-run double in the third off Padres starter Nick Pivetta. Serving as the designated hitter, Goodman added an RBI double in the seventh off Wandy Peralta. Goodman has hit safely in 22 of his last 25 games, during which he has batted .323 (31-for-96).
Goodman’s homer was his sixth of the season, which tied him for the team lead with Jordan Beck and Ryan McMahon (whose eighth-inning homer allowed Goodman a chance at the cycle).
Again, can’t a man have his day?
“I mean, that’s the job,” said Goodman, who as catcher and designated hitter is in his first year as a regular in the lineup. “Every day, you just come out here and play baseball. That’s what we’re here to do. I can’t worry about getting noticed or anything like that."
Also rendered a footnote was right-handed pitcher Germán Márquez shaking off the 9.90 ERA he began the day with by holding the Padres to one run on three hits on Mother’s Day.
“It was a good day -- a good team win,” Goodman said. “Starting with ‘Marqui’ giving us seven strong, it was awesome. The bullpen has been doing a really good job, but they’ve been used a ton. It was good getting a lot of innings, and he shut them down. And offensively, we got some good pitches to hit and put good swings on them.”
But the backdrop can’t be ignored.
The Rockies’ record after 40 games is tied for second-worst at this stage with the 1932 Red Sox, 1928 Phillies and 1904 Senators in the modern era (since 1900).
“It’s definitely weird,” Goodman said. “It’s tough. But at the end of the day, you just got to keep playing baseball.”