There was never a doubt, not from the moment it left his bat, sliced through the muggy air at Coors Field and landed in the upper deck in right field.
Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez raised his arms and absorbed the moment. “I thought I was going to pass out,” Gonzalez said later.
It was a lot to take in, a walkoff home run, the sixth cycle in franchise history and the Rockies’ third straight win on a swing that left 48,065 mouths agape Saturday night.
Colorado won 6-5 over the Cubs, baseball’s version of a homecoming opponent. But years from now, nobody is going to remember who the Rockies were playing. The snapshot that will endure is Gonzalez leaping onto home plate, celebrating a home run that still hasn’t landed.
“Big-time players come through in big-time moments,” Rockies closer Huston Street said. “This just shows again why he should have been an all-star. The guy is special.”
This was Gonzalez’s night, his stage, a packed house of fans who stubbornly believe the Rockies will go on one of those runs that defy logic and produce goose bumps.
When Gonzalez stepped in during the ninth inning against the Cubs’ Sean Marshall, his maturity was on display.
He cataloged his at-bats, noting that every left-hander Saturday had started him off with a fastball. It wasn’t too long ago that he couldn’t hit lefties. He owned a .224 career average against them entering the season.
“He has made adjustments,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said.
This year has been noticeably different, his potential turning into production. Gonzalez decided he was going to swing like he knew what was coming.
“It was unbelievable. It was magic,” said Gonzalez, the first player since Boston’s Dwight Evans in 1984 to hit a walkoff home run for the cycle, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. “You never think something like that is going to happen.”
The ball traveled 462 feet, the longest at Coors Field this season. A Cubs fan turned over the souvenir to the 24-year-old CarGo in exchange for an autographed baseball.
It will go in a framed case along with Gonzalez’s bat and the lineup card.
“It’s storybook,” starter Jason Hammel said.
What makes Gonzalez so special is that eyes aren’t required to appreciate his talent.
“The ball makes a different sound off his bat,” Rockies special assistant Vinny Castilla said after Gonzalez’s team-high 21st homer of the year. “It’s loud. Really, really loud.”
Gonzalez always does everything with flair, including the way he glides to flyballs. He finished 4-for-4 with a sacrifice fly — raising his average to .321, second in the NL.
A batting title is within reach. The postseason seemed a little closer too after the Rockies averted a potential heart-in-a-blender loss. They led 3-0 and 5-2 behind a terrific outing from Hammel.
But the Cubs’ Derrek Lee tied the score with a three-run homer in the eighth inning off Rafael Betancourt.
The conditional dread soon disappeared into the night, along with a bruised baseball.
“That,” Tracy said, “was great theater.”
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
Rockies’ cycling club
Carlos Gonzalez on Saturday joined Troy Tulowitzki (2009), Mike Lansing (2000), Todd Helton (1999), Neifi Perez (1998) and Dante Bichette (1998) as the only Rockies to hit for the cycle. How CarGo did it:
First inning: Singles to right.
Third inning: Triples to center off the top of the wall.
Fifth inning: Doubles to left.
Seventh inning: Sacrifice fly to center.
Ninth inning: Leads off with a walk-off home run into the upper deck in right field.
Looking ahead
The Rockies desperately need Jorge De La Rosa (3-3, 5.15 ERA) to be the dominant pitcher he was in 2009. His last outingseven innings, two earned runs, eight strikeouts vs. the Pirates — was his best since coming off the disabled list. Carlos Silva (10-4, 3.76) was 7-0 through May, but has become mortal, as witnessed by his 2-2, 6.86 July. His fastball is 88-89, with a plus slider and a changeup he has used to limit left-handed hitters to a .237 average. Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
Upcoming pitching matchups
TODAY: Cubs at Rockies, 1:10 p.m., FSN
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Giants’ Jonathan Sanchez (7-6, 3.54) at Rockies’ Aaron Cook (4-7, 5.08), 6:40 p.m., FSN
Wednesday: Giants’ Madison Bumgarner (4-3, 2.70) at Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (16-2, 2.67), 1:10 p.m., FSN
Thursday: Rockies’ Jeff Francis (4-3, 4.44) at Pirates’ Daniel McCutchen (1-5, 7.94), 5:05 p.m., FSN
