'We're in a good spot': Bryant fuels Rox's 5th straight win

DENVER -- Kris Bryant found quiet moments away from the day’s task, which he handled expertly during the Rockies’ fifth straight victory -- 2-0 over the Pirates. The merriment of 34,169 who witnessed his magic at Coors Field on Saturday afternoon was at most an echo.

Two bouts with a back injury which cost Bryant 52 games this season seem long ago. His last absence, for three games this week while he and his wife, Jessica, welcomed twin boys, fit more his happy disposition.

“I was actually walking down the hallway here during the game, and it was super -- it feels really good,” Bryant said. “Everybody here is great. The guys are great. The fans are great. I’m just having a really good time coming to the park every day.”

And, man, do the Rockies love seeing him.

On an afternoon that went from overcast to sun-splashed to windy, Bryant reached base four times, and he keyed both run-scoring rallies -- one on an RBI single. Bryant stretched his on-base streak to 18 games, but that’s just him. The key is his success shines on all in purple.

Even counting the early part of the season, when Bryant was in the lineup but compromised by back pain, the Rockies are 18-14 with him in uniform. Since his June 27 return from a second injured list stint, the club is 12-7 and has won five straight for the first time this season.

Bryant has appeared in 15 of those games, during which he slashed .356/.415/.627 with four doubles, four home runs, eight RBIs, and six walks against five strikeouts.

The Rockies’ 43-49 record shows how much they missed him. Bryant’s presence increases the impact of Charlie Blackmon (RBI single on Saturday), All-Star C.J. Cron and second baseman Brendan Rodgers, who have had their individual surges.

Saturday morning, before turning in his lineup card, manager Bud Black waxed about the joy of having Bryant’s name on it.

“He’s a key part of a good offense,” said Black, whose team also got six five-hit innings and 11 groundouts from in-season rotation pickup José Ureña. “The on-base component, the power, the good at-bat. Putting another [accomplished] guy in there makes the lineup look better. You always hear people talk about lengthening the lineup. It puts another guy up front. It knocks another guy back down.

“He’s arguably, when he’s right, our best offensive player. And when you go through every team and identify that guy, then take him out, what does that lineup look like? When you put him back in, what’s that look like?”

One of the Rockies’ mantras when it comes to Bryant is being himself is good enough -- no need to force himself to do extra. For example, all four of Bryant’s home runs have come away from Coors Field. Isn’t this where you’re supposed to hit home runs?

Bryant good-naturedly brushed aside a question about power.

“We actually talked about this yesterday, me and Mac [third baseman Ryan McMahon] -- this isn’t a home run park as much as it’s a doubles park. It’s huge,” Bryant said. “Obviously, the ball’s going to fly a little bit more because it’s Denver, but there’s a lot of ground out there to cover. Getting the ball in the gaps, there are a lot of hits to be had, so that’s my focus.”

The manifestation of his plan came with one on and the Rockies leading, 1-0, in the seventh, but with two out. Down, 0-2, Bryant poked a single to the right side to keep the rally going for Blackmon’s RBI single.

“It’s obviously a nice validation of the work that I’m putting in, feeling good up there," Bryant said. “Even my last at-bat, just poking the ball the other way, that stuff. When I’m doing that, that really makes me feel that I can hit anything.”

In the baseball world they are not seen as a contender, but the Rockies can look at their record when the lineup is whole and believe they can do anything.

“We’re in a good spot,” Bryant said. “It’s easy to just look at the standings or record or whatnot. We just continue to focus on what we're doing now -- winning three series in a row, just good baseball. And we'll look up at the end of the year and see how we do.”