Tovar tallies two homers in Rockies' loss to Marlins

DENVER -- Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar has a watch-and-follow relationship with veteran Charlie Blackmon. It happens during games when Blackmon leads off and Tovar hits second, and continues behind the scenes.

“It’s honestly cool,” Tovar said through Rockies translator and coordinator of Spanish communications Edwin Perez. “Playing with Charlie is an honor to me. He's just a role model for work ethic, dedication and the work he puts in every day.

“We're very quiet, but we talk when it's necessary.”

This pair used their bats to communicate across the generation gap at the promising beginning of a 9-8 loss to the Marlins -- which ended in dubious fashion for the Rockies.

Blackmon led off the bottom of the first by blasting a Roddery Muñoz pitch a Statcast-projected 452 feet to right-center at Coors Field. Tovar followed with a Statcast-projected 456-foot launch to center field. The 15-year, 31-day age gap between Blackmon, 38, and Tovar, 23, marked the largest age difference since 1900 between a team’s first and second batters of a game, each of whom homered, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Tovar homered off Muñoz again in the second as the Rockies built a 6-0 lead. He also added a double and a sacrifice fly to raise his RBI total for the game to four. Tovar also tied teammates Brenton Doyle and Michael Toglia for the team lead in homers with 21.

All was fine until the Rockies took an 8-4 lead into the ninth. Tyler Kinley, who earned a save in Monday’s 3-2 victory over the Marlins, yielded three hits and a walk without retiring a batter. Angel Chivilli, who also pitched well Monday, then served a three-run homer to Jesús Sánchez, with two of the runs being charged to Kinley.

It was the sixth time this season they have allowed five-plus runs and surrendered the lead in the ninth inning or later when entering the inning with a lead, the most in a single season in MLB history. It also was the fourth loss this season when leading by four or more runs in the ninth inning or later, the most in a season in the modern era.

There was more Rockies home run trivia.

It was the fourth time in franchise history they had led off a game with back-to-back homers. Blackmon, who has nine homers this season, was involved in three of the occasions.

So this one will be remembered, even if not totally fondly by Tovar.

“Our most important job is, at the end of the day, we didn’t leave with a win,” said Tovar, who nearly added a run after his fourth-inning double, but was tagged by catcher Ali Sánchez after Griffin Conine’s strong throw from right field.

Tovar has been one of the most consistent two-way shortstops in the Majors since the start of last season.

“He’s continuing to get better,” said starting pitcher Cal Quantrill, who held the Marlins to four runs in 5 2/3 innings and would have been the winning pitcher. “He’s taking better at-bats every week. Most importantly, he’s playing every day and playing great ‘D,’ too. So he’s doing it on both sides of the ball. They’ve got a special one here for a long time.”

But he was stuck on 19 homers for 67 at-bats before his first homer on Tuesday.

Doyle admitted getting to 20 caused him to press, but he had 20 stolen bases and was trying to reach 20/20 magic.

Does reaching 20 homers unlock more power for Tovar?

“I have no good answer for that,” he said. “I always say that my home runs sometimes are an accident for me.”

The blown lead kept the increasingly youthful Rockies (49-84) from a significant marker in their painful process. Had they won, they’d have evened their record at Coors at .500 after 62 games. (Their official home record will include two extra losses, courtesy of being the home team in two losses to the Astros in Mexico City). They are 14-10 at home since July 1.

The Rockies are a ways from having that proverbial corner turned. But when it happens, Tovar will be one of the drivers.

“He’s played really well at shortstop," manager Bud Black said. "And you combine that with 21 homers and [fourth] in the [National] League in hits, it’s been a really good year for ‘Tovie.’”