After long road, Rodgers finding home run swing

CHICAGO -- Brendan Rodgers went 35 games, 143 plate appearances and 131 at-bats without a home run after making his season debut on July 31.

After going deep in two of his past four games, including the Rockies’ 4-3 loss to the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Sunday afternoon, the second baseman feels a sense of relief.

“It’s been good to finally hit some balls in the air and get some homers out of the way,” said Rodgers, who mashed 13 home runs last season and 15 in 2021. “Missing so much time, it’s definitely in the back of your mind playing, especially getting to about 100 at-bats and not having one.

“It definitely feels good to start to see some good ball flight.”

Rodgers’ performance on Sunday continued a strong push to the finish line for the 27-year-old, who missed the first four months of the season after suffering a left shoulder injury in Spring Training that required surgery.

Rodgers estimated he felt his timing really start to click after around 120 at-bats, which lines up with his recent hot stretch and the momentum he hopes to carry into the offseason and 2024.

In 29 at-bats over his past seven games, Rodgers has tallied 10 hits -- a .345 average -- with two homers and two walks compared to four strikeouts.

“I started to realize what I was doing in the cage that was kind of not really correlating to the field,” Rodgers said. “I started doing a little bit more machine [work] and took less swings but [with] more intent, more focus.”

Rodgers said he also has started hitting before each game closer to first pitch, which he feels is helping get him locked in. To that end, maybe it’s no surprise he found success early in Sunday’s contest, belting a two-run homer off Cubs starter Jordan Wicks in the third inning.

“He’s starting to get there,” manager Bud Black said. “He probably, obviously, feels good about a couple of homers, which is always nice. That was a good compact swing from Brendan. I thought he played good defense this trip as well.

“It was a tough four months, coming back from the shoulder. In a lot of ways, he’s still working his way back into true baseball shape, but he's doing his part. His average is up. He got off to a slow start, but he's making some contributions, especially this week.”

The Rockies only have seven games remaining this season, including a doubleheader against the Dodgers on Tuesday. But Rodgers ending 2023 on a high note after what he went through this spring can go a long way.

“It gives me confidence on what I really worked on when I was hurt until now,” Rodgers said. “And then, really, going into the offseason with confidence on my swing and my mental approach and all those other things.

“I feel like I'm in a pretty good spot right now. I just want to kind of have that momentum and carry it over into next year.”

Rodgers’ homer gave the Rockies an early 2-1 lead in what proved to be their 99th loss of the season, a new franchise record.

Starter Ty Blach worked around traffic, including three walks, to hold the Cubs to one run through five innings, but Chicago broke through in the sixth. The lefty surrendered a double to Seiya Suzuki, a single to Dansby Swanson and a sacrifice fly to Yan Gomes -- cutting Colorado’s lead to 3-2.

Patrick Wisdom followed with a go-ahead two-run homer, ending Blach’s day.

“I felt like there were really a lot of close pitches early on with some of those walks,” Blach said. “It is what it is. It happens in the game. We were able to limit damage early, and then just couldn’t quite get it done.”

The Rockies had a chance to tie the game at 4 in the ninth after Nolan Jones and Elías Díaz walked to open the inning, but they came up short.

“It’s been tough the last couple months,” Black said. “A lot of really close games, a lot of games like today, right? We just haven't scored enough runs, and they've nicked us for runs late in the game.

“As you can tell, the guys are playing hard, and they're giving everything they can. We're just falling a little bit short.”