The closer the Rockies move to elimination from the playoffs -- their 7-2 loss Wednesday night in San Francisco saddled them with a sub-.500 season -- the more they need the style, speed and smile of Raimel Tapia.

With an infield single, an opposite-way RBI double to left and a run scored, Tapia gave the Rockies more reason to believe that the leadoff hitter is not on their list of problems to fix for 2021.

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Tapia has hits in 11 of his last 12 games, batting .306 (15-for-49) in the process. After starting the year 2-for-16, he has hit .318 (47-for-148).

“He's been pretty persistent each and every day with a consistent approach that I think suits his game -- base hits, opposite-field hitting and, for the most part, taking balls, swinging at strikes,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.

Too often, not much happens behind him. Like after his one-out RBI double in the fifth, he didn’t score. But that or the Rockies’ 24-31 record hasn’t stopped Tapia from playing, as he is known to say, “con mucho swagger.” The flying dreadlocks, the points to his teammates and kisses to the heavens flow.

The Rockies led off with Charlie Blackmon from 2014 through most of last season, but after taking over as manager in 2017, Black has been looking for ways to put Blackmon in a spot where he has more chances to drive in runs. Black played with DJ LeMahieu at the top in 2017 and 2018, and late last season experimented with Trevor Story -- another power-hitting type -- at the top while dropping Blackmon to cleanup.

This year, Black tried a leadoff man with power, David Dahl. However, Dahl struggled with various injuries and unexpectedly poor hitting (.183) until it was announced that he’ll finish the year on the injured list and visit a specialist in Birmingham to see what’s going on in his right shoulder.

Garrett Hampson took leadoff for a few games, but proved better lower in the order. Hampson had two hits and scored on Tapia’s double on Wednesday.

Tapia started the year hitting low in the order. During a brief benching after his early struggles, the left-handed-hitting Tapia returned to something between a leg kick and a leg hover and immediately produced.

Black, noting that Tapia hit leadoff for much of his time while hitting .319 with a .364 on-base percentage in the Minors, moved him to the leadoff spot on Aug. 20.

His numbers since then are solid for a traditional leadoff man in terms of batting average (.298), reaching base (.348 on-base percentage) and the occasional steal (5-for-6). The one area he is short, he can’t do much about -- scoring runs.

Tapia is not going to drive himself in often, although he has tried.

Tapia hit nine homers last season, one inside the park and four as a pinch-hitter. However, Tapia bulked up in the offseason and adopted a swing designed to lift the ball into the air to take advantage of Coors Field. The attempt at two different approaches didn’t work.

He’s better off getting on base. But Blackmon’s struggles after his torrid start and Nolan Arenado’s inability to drive the ball because of his shoulder issues meant they weren’t driving him home. Tapia’s third-inning run on Story’s RBI single was just his 14th since Aug. 20, despite all the leadoff attributes he has shown.

Wednesday, it wasn’t just Tapia stranded after his best work. Blackmon, batting cleanup, doubled to open the second and sixth. In either case, Blackmon never moved with fewer than two outs. Then the Giants’ Mauricio Dubón broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth with a three-run shot on a mistake slider from Yency Almonte, who came in after Ryan Castellani issued two of his five walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Tapia’s next step is to maintain a discerning eye over the length of the season. The hits are coming, but he has not walked since his free pass on Sept. 2 even though he has stretched pitchers to lengthy at-bats consistently.

“The on-base percentage has come down a little bit -- there haven't been as many walks as when he was inserted earlier in the lineup on a regular basis,” Black said. “He’s still, in the last few weeks, slashing the ball and not walking. But the hits are coming in all fashions.”