Desmond's slam boosts Rox to bounce-back win

DENVER -- Ian Desmond has spent much of this season bouncing back from poor performance and fan ire. It was fitting that he led the Rockies’ biggest rebound victory of the season on Saturday night.

Desmond launched a fifth-inning grand slam and added a career-high-tying fifth RBI on a sacrifice fly during a much-needed, three-run seventh as the Rockies this time held onto a large lead and defeated the Padres, 14-8, at Coors Field.

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Desmond gave the Rockies an 11-4 lead with his slam, his ninth homer of the year.

“Try to get one [good pitch], that’s the objective,” Desmond said of his approach against Padres reliever Robbie Erlin. “Every time I’ve ever been up to the plate with bases loaded, I’ve just been thinking about trying to get one. That time I was able to cash in.”

Desmond circled the bases on Friday, too, an inside-the-park homer. But that highlight was lost as the Rockies blew a six-run, ninth-inning lead and ultimately took a 16-12, 12-inning loss.

The game Saturday tightened briefly as the Padres again threatened to wash away the work of Desmond and Charlie Blackmon, who became the first player in club history to lash four hits in three straight games. But with the score 11-8 in the seventh inning, David Dahl tripled in two runs, Desmond drove in Dahl with a sacrifice fly to reach five RBIs in a game for the fourth time, and the Rockies washed away Friday’s temporary bad taste.

Desmond’s turnaround took longer. He was hitting .177 on April 23, and few wanted to hear that his contact rate was worthy of better numbers.

Saturday’s 2-for-4 brought his overall average to .266 and extended his season-high hit streak to nine games (.438, three homers, 14 RBIs). Since April 26, he has produced a slash line of .320/.401/.625 with 11 doubles, two triples and eight homers.

“Ian has made some subtle changes to his swing, and we’re seeing the results,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

According to Statcast, through April 23 his contact was rated at an expected weighted on-base average of .269 but his actual wOBA was .214 -- decent contact, bad luck. But Desmond kept hitting hard, and it has paid off. Going into Saturday, Desmond’s expected wOBA and wOBA were a matching .347 -- roughly 25 points above MLB average.

“It seems like he’s getting better and he’s hitting for more power, and the quality of his at-bats seems to keep getting better and better, and he’s getting hits with runners on base,” Blackmon said.

Desmond received a curtain call after Friday’s inside-the-park homer, and the announcement of his name headed to the on-deck circle continued to draw cheers.

It’s a far cry from the first two years of his five-year, $70 million contract, when Desmond, 33, endured injuries and offensive ruts. Some of the more vocal fans rode him hard, although his charity work and positive face in the community made him a favorite of many. But now there are no qualifiers in fan reaction.

Redemption stories are nice, but the focus is the Rockies (37-33) trying to keep a strong offense going and take more forward steps. They erased a 3-12 start to the season but haven’t risen above four games above .500.

“Charlie’s getting to that stage of his career where he’s becoming a leader; Desmond has those qualities that show within the group,” Black said. “Trevor [Story] is getting to that point where he’s taking on some of that responsibility. Then Daniel Murphy, Mark Reynolds, Nolan Arenado.

“The thing that I like is they’re a tough group. After a game like last night, these guys are pretty resilient.”

In that light, Desmond doesn’t have a lot of time to bask.

“Being in the position I’m in, in my career, you try to take every day the same,” Desmond said, “be the same person every single day.”