Díaz gets bragging rights with HR: 'He's going to be mad'

DENVER -- Rockies catcher Elias Díaz understands -- and enjoys -- the adrenaline-driven intensity of Nationals pitcher Chad Kuhl. The two started their careers together with the Pirates, and the pair worked through highs and lows as Rockies teammates last season.

“[Kuhl] fights,” Díaz said. “He competes, every time. He gets mad, a lot, but it’s because he wants to do well.”

Then Díaz smiled.

“He’s going to be mad, for sure -- I may receive a text from him,” said Díaz, whose 443-foot homer in the fourth inning off Kuhl was part of a three-hit, two-RBI performance in the Rockies’ scrappy 7-6 victory Sunday afternoon to earn a split in the first series of the year at Coors Field.

Pitcher-catcher relationships are special. The two bonded when Díaz struggled to get playing time while Kuhl was trying to determine the best way to use his stuff during their Pirates years. Díaz found ways to tap into Kuhl’s intensity, while keeping it from burning him. The relationship carried Kuhl through his first career shutout for the Rockies in a game against the Dodgers last season.

But Kuhl’s Colorado fortunes cooled during the final months of ‘22. Díaz said he talked to Kuhl in September and expressed hope that he would return, but didn’t push because "we don’t make the [decisions].” Kuhl signed a Minor League deal with the Nationals, and secured a starting job during Spring Training. The return to Coors was his second start of the season.

Díaz said the two set aside competition long enough to acknowledge each other before the first confrontation, but other pleasantries had to wait.

“We have a different uniform, so we’re going to try to have success even if he is my brother,” Díaz said.

Díaz delivered with a single in the second inning on a slider spotted well on the outside corner. In the next at-bat, the slider wasn’t nearly as good, and Díaz crushed it. Díaz took a couple of steps out of the box, then put his head down and trotted the bases. Kuhl shook his head angrily at the result of the pitch.

“I think he's caught the most amount of starts in my big league career, so he's seen me a ton,” said Kuhl, who gave up five runs on four walks and six hits -- two of which were solo homers to Díaz and Jurickson Profar. “But if I get it to a good spot, I don't think that happens.”

Díaz finds himself in a good place for the first time since joining the Rockies in 2020 after the Pirates non-tendered him. He spent the early part of the pandemic season at the alternate training site, but had supplanted Tony Wolters as the regular catcher by the end of the season. In ‘21, Díaz was hitting under .200 with one homer for two months, but finished with 18 homers and earned a three-year, $14.5 million contract. Last year, while admittedly pressuring himself to justify the contract, Díaz struggled more than he thrived and finished with nine homers and a .228 batting average.

Díaz is hitting .300 through 10 games this year. He lashed a pinch-hit two-run single Saturday night in a ninth-inning rally that fell a run short. And on Sunday he added an RBI double off of Erasmo Ramírez during a four-run sixth that flipped the game in the Rockies' favor.

Both teams walked in runs that gave the other a lead, and the winning run was scored when Ryan McMahon drew a bases-loaded walk. Rockies starter Ryan Feltner committed consecutive balks in the second inning, one of which pushed a run across for the Nationals.

Díaz brought an air of quality to the otherwise scruffy game, and has been one of the Rockies' biggest offensive threats in the team's 4-6 start.

“The batting practice has been good -- a lot of times, that doesn’t translate -- but I think it’s translating for Elias,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “The home run was well struck. The bullet to center that eluded [Victor] Robles [for the double] was well-struck.

“We need him.”

When the Rockies needed him Sunday, Díaz was ready -- even if it meant upsetting an old friend.