Keep smiling, Luis

Believe or not: the Colorado Rockies steamrolled into Oracle Park on Friday as one of the hottest clubs in baseball.

Possibly an exaggeration, but they had won seven-in-a-row, sweeping the Rangers at home and the Padres in San Diego. Their hot streak sparked by a 9-1 walloping against the Giants last Thursday.

Meanwhile San Francisco had gone 3-3. Their ability to keep their head above water a minor miracle considering how hollowed out the lineup had become, as if chewed through by some invasive roster-borer, an infiltrating insect possibly released into the visiting clubhouse by agents of the Rocky Mountain High. Conspiracies, however ridiculous, do feel slightly justified after the week these players have had.

Keaton Winn, Austin Slater, Michael Conforto, Nick Ahmed all started that Thursday’s game in Colorado and were all on the IL by Friday. Jung Hoo Lee played his last full game last Wednesday in Denver before fouling a ball off his foot that kept him off the field for three days, only to return to more disaster. Hours before first pitch, Farhan Zaidi announced that Lee would have season-ending surgery to repair his torn labrum.

While the Rockies were riding high draped in purple mountain majesty, the San Francisco Giants were physically and spiritually black-and-blue, bruised, bummed the hell out.

The clubs’ current trajectories appeared to be reinforced after the Friday’s 1st inning. The first four Colorado hitters reached base before starter Mason Black could record an out, scoring three runs on a single and three consecutive doubles.

Matt Chapman eased some of the initial pain with a two-out, RBI double in the bottom of the frame (he’d go 3-for-4 with another double and stolen base on the night), but the relief was short-lived when Jordan Beck extended Colorado’s lead to 4-1 with a solo home run in the 2nd.

They appeared poised to tack on again in the 4th after Black hit Jacob Stallings on the hand to lead off the inning. Bob Melvin’s move to Sean Hjelle didn’t prove apt either after Eleheuris Montero’s ground-rule double put runners in scoring position with no outs. But the reliever’s 6’11’’ stature didn’t sway in the tough winds. A heavy sinker induced an unproductive grounder from Beck to LaMonte Wade Jr. at first. Another sinker on the hands got Charlie Blackmon to fly out to shallow center—too shallow to advance Stallings from third. A knuckle-curve baited a swing and weak ground out to Chapman to end the inning.

The stop-job by Hjelle appeared to chart a new game course for San Francisco. Starter Ryan Feltner’s sails started to luff in the 4th. Mike Yastrzemski led off the frame with a double and came home on a double off the bat of Luis Matos.

Hjelle worked around two singles for another scoreless frame, setting up San Francisco’s game-altering 5th.

As quick as the Rockies 3-runs were in the 1st, San Francisco’s came even quicker. Jorge Soler (in his first game back from injury) and LaMonte Wade Jr. both singled off Feltner to lead off the inning. Down 4-to-2, Thairo Esrada lined a sinker off his shin, then three pitches later, lined a four-seamer over the wall in left. It was his 7th homer of the season (tied with Conforto for the team lead), and his 22nd, 23rd and 24th RBIs (which leads the team).

Against new arm Victor Vodnik, the bats kept rolling.

Two more singles from Chapman and Yaz set-up a swinging-bunt RBI single from Matos. The young center fielder laughed after legging out the knock, and the smile only grew as the night progressed.

With San Francisco’s lead slimmed to 6-5 in the 7th and a runner on third and 1-out, Matos continued to wield a magic wand, lunging at 1-2 slider well into the opposite batter’s box that he managed to put in play for a run-scoring ground out. Clutch situational hitting that set up another insurance run off the bat of another 22 year old. Marco Luciano flipped a slider from Jake Bird into shallow center, collecting his first hit of the 2024 season and his career’s first run batted-in.

After a relatively easy 8th from Tyler Rogers to maintain the 8-5 lead, the game started to feel settled in San Francisco’s favor. Luis Matos, however, was not finished.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Matos yanked his second double of the evening: A looper rather than a liner just over the glove of Ryan McMahon to bring in two more runs. Down in a quick 0-2 hole, he fouled off two fastballs, the second one eye-high, before digging out an opposite pole, ankle-high change-up for his two-bagger.

The bat is certainly charmed, but it’s important to remember that this is not an outlier. Yes, Jung Hoo Lee’s contact skills are freakish, but Matos has a bat-to-ball reputation as well (17.2% Whiff in 2023; 11.5% over his 21 PA this season).

After knocking in 5 runs in the series against Los Angeles, Matos put up 5 in one night. A four-game total of 10 RBIs has already eclipsed Lee’s season total, while his three extra base hits (2 2B and 1 HR) are already half of Lee’s six in about 120 less at-bats.

These numbers are inarguable, but one-dimensional. Even with a much-improved and streaking Matos, the outfield is less dynamic and deep without Lee. Not to be overly pessimistic too, but the repercussions of this injury could be felt for a long time in terms of delaying Lee’s acclimation to the league and his overall development, as well as his increased likelihood of future shoulder issues.

The shock and emotional fallout of Lee’s injury is real, and it’s been softened by Matos’s on-field play these past four games—that too is inarguable.

Let’s just hope he keeps smiling.