Jones (4 hits) falls 3B shy of cycle: 'He's got strength to his swing'

CINCINNATI -- If Rockies manager Bud Black wanted to make a career switch, perhaps the field of divination would make a good landing spot. Prior to the Rockies’ 8-6 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park on Tuesday, Black said of right fielder Nolan Jones: “His base hits are going to be homers, doubles, singles because … he’s got strength to his swing.”

Sure enough, Jones came out with a home run in the first inning, doubles in the eighth and ninth and a single in the fifth. He even added a walk in the third, finishing a triple shy of a super cycle.

“I was seeing the ball well today,” Jones said. “... I wasn't really doing anything special, just put a couple of good swings on balls.”

His 4-for-4 night continued what’s been an extremely successful first season with the Rockies. Since his callup on May 26, Jones has more home runs and a higher batting average than anyone on the team besides Ryan McMahon. Jones’ four stolen bases in that span lead the team, too.

Jones entered today with the seventh-highest average among all MLB players with at least 80 plate appearances and led rookies in batting average and on-base percentage.

With 94 plate appearances last season with the Guardians and another 94 this season with the Rockies, it’s easy to compare the adjustments Jones has made in just one season. In 2022, he slashed .244/.309/.372. So far this year, he’s slashing .354/.436/.634 with nearly twice as many extra-base hits (13) as he had last year (seven).

“In a short period of time with our hitting guys, he's made some adjustments,” Black said before the game. “... In the cage, looking at video, understanding even a short period of time what pitchers are doing to him and what he needs to do to maybe combat the quick adjustment.”

Especially on Tuesday, those quick adjustments were obvious as Jones was able to get a hit off of four different pitchers. Three of his four hits were on inside pitches, which Black said Jones has been working on this season.

“We've talked about him adjusting to the Major League fastball, that they're trying to beat him inside, and he got it,” Black said after the game. “Couple more balls on the pull side, you know, they're trying to get him inside, and he's not letting it happen. That's good stuff. The patience, with the walk, the strike zone control has been impressive as well.”

But while Jones had a career night, reliever Peter Lambert had one of his worst defensively. With one out in the fifth, speedster Elly De La Cruz hit a hard ground ball directly back to Lambert. The right-hander fielded it off himself and, perhaps trying to beat the runner who dubbed himself “the fastest man alive,” threw the ball well past first baseman Mike Moustakas as De La Cruz trotted to second and started toward third.

A pickoff attempt ended up in shallow center field to allow De La Cruz to advance to third, and he scored easily on Jake Fraley’s double. When Lambert tried to pick off Fraley, that ball, too, wound up in center to let the runner advance and score.

But Lambert stayed in for another two innings and threw 55 pitches, partly a consequence of the Colorado bullpen being the one of most used ‘pens in baseball. No other bullpen in the National League has thrown more pitches than the Rockies have since the beginning of this road trip on June 12. Only two Colorado starts have gone into the sixth inning in that span. Last weekend in Atlanta, two starters lasted 3 1/3 innings or less. The Rockies have one more game -- Wednesday’s series finale -- before their first off-day since June 5.

“We talked in the dugout, he was extremely upset at himself,” Black said. “He's one of our best fielding pitchers. I told him, I thought that, again, in competition, the ball hit off his glove, he thought he had to rush. In hindsight, he'll probably say ‘I didn't.’”