Rodgers rallies Little Leaguers, then the Rockies

DENVER -- Brendan Rodgers had quite a bit to celebrate Friday.

He and the rest of the Rockies wore purple batting practice Nike Dri Fits in honor of new Hall of Famer Todd Helton, who is in town and will be honored with his special night on Saturday. Rodgers also took time to make a video message for the Little League team from his hometown, Lake Mary, Fla., which took on Puyallup, Wash., on Friday night in the Little League World Series.

But Rodgers flashed back to how Helton did it, and showed the kids how to do it, with a three-run first-inning home run that started the Rockies to their 7-3 victory over the Padres at Coors Field.

Rodgers did it all in a good mood. And he can say his pep talk worked. The Florida Little Leaguers won, 6-1.

“I watched [the Little League game] until the fourth inning, until I had to go out,” said Rodgers, who last year purchased tickets for Lake Mary players when the Rockies played against the Rays in St. Petersburg. “It was 4-1. I asked [pitcher Kyle] Freeland to let me know the final score. He goes, ‘6-1, they won.’ So good win.”

Rodgers, who had a Players’ Weekend bat designed in metallic gold and purple but left it behind and used his trusted wood, homered in the first inning, and Charlie Blackmon went deep in the second, both off Matt Waldron. Rodgers’ 10th homer of the season and Blackmon’s eighth added to the Rockies’ power surge -- 82 homers in 57 games since June 11. Before that point, they had just 53 homers in the first 66 contests.

The less-than-powerful start is one of the reasons the Rockies are last in the National League West. But they are more competitive when they go deep -- 40-41 when they homer at all, 19-16 when they have two or more.

The final weeks of any non-contending season are full of various little goals that, the hope is, will lead to more competitive seasons in the future.

Friday included a few building blocks: Rookie reliever Angel Chivilli forcing a Ha-Seong Kim double-play grounder to end the sixth inning; Lucas Gilbreath making his first appearance since sustaining an elbow injury in August 2022; Tyler Kinley, who had a hard time finding consistency after his surgery in '22, stacking another good outing; rookie Victor Vodnik preventing a ninth-inning rally.

Rodgers has his own challenge.

Injuries have been an issue since he was drafted in the first round in 2015. The result of the cumulative missed time has been Rodgers has not finished seasons as strong as he would like. But Rodgers has a hit in 10 straight games, as well as 12 of 13 games in August. He’s hitting .392 this month.

Rodgers -- the pivot man on a first-inning ending double play that allowed Cal Quantrill (8-8) to escape early trouble -- acknowledges the mental and physical grind, but he embraces it all.

“Usually, I struggle in August,” Rodgers said. “But looking back over the last couple of years, talking to my hitting guy and people I trust a lot with the developmental part of the game, I just said to trust it.

“You’ve got a month and a half left. It’s the dog days. You’ve just got to grind through it.”

Rockies manager Bud Black has noticed Rodgers’ growth.

“He’s hitting well at home, and I like that,” Black said. “Overall, on the road, we’re seeing good at-bats, too. He’s driving the ball better. I’m seeing the ball getting to the gaps and a few balls over the fence. The swing is crisp, with some bat speed to it.

“And what’s good about it, for me and the coaching staff, is it’s happening in the dog days of August. It’s happening when guys are tired, at the time of the year when you have to fight through some things mentally and physically.”

Rodgers is conscious about not letting fatigue affect his plan at the plate.

“I’m just trying to be short to the ball, looking for certain pitches in certain counts,” Rodgers said. “Me and Brenton Doyle have talked a little bit. We get a sheet that has some info on pitch tendencies in certain counts, and that’s something we’ve leaned on.”