Ezequiel

Tovar

Tovar clobbered a three-run jack to center off an otherwise-excellent Trevor McDonald to get the Rockies to within a pair at 5-3. He also singled to push his slash to .256/.299/.402 with two games left to play. Tovar’s season has been lackluster, but he’s not the reason the Rockies fell to 74 games under .500 Friday.

The 24-year-old shortstop got the Rockies on the board with an RBI single off of Dylan Cease in the third inning that made it a 3-1 ballgame. That would be the extent of their offense. Tovar is now hitting .274/.317/.435 with eight homers, 25 RBI and four stolen bases over his first 316 plate appearances.

Tovar tied the game with a solo homer in the seventh, and he came around to score the game-winning run on a single by Warming Bernabel. Break up the Rockies, they’ve won four straight to improve to 36-89 on the season. Tovar is now hitting .274/.310/.452 with seven homers and 22 RBI over 58 games.

It appears to be just a routine day of rest for the 24-year-old shortstop. Ryan Ritter was activated from the injured list prior to the game and he’ll start at shortstop and bat ninth against Brandon Pfaadt and the Diamondbacks on Friday evening at Coors Field.

Tovar launched a 408 foot, go-ahead homer in the eighth inning to complete a comeback in a game the Rockies trailed 4-0 after just eight batters. That was his third homer in just six games since coming off the injured list and he has a hit in all but one of those games. Tovar has the ability to get red-hot in the blink of an eye and this could be the start of one of those streaks.

Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer told reporters they’re trying to be cautious with Tovar coming off a left oblique strain, so he’ll continue to get routine off days moving forward. It’ll be veteran Orlando Arcia taking over at shortstop on Sunday afternoon in his absence.

Tovar broke a 3-3 tie by clobbering a Zebby Matthews pitch in the fifth inning with a pair of runners on. The 23-year-old shortstop has just four homers on the year, but it’s obviously worth noting how that has pretty much everything to do with how much time he missed with injury. When healthy, Tovar looks like a future fantasy star.

The 23-year-old shortstop will make his triumphant return to the Rockies’ lineup for Friday night’s second-half opener against the Twins. Before landing on the injured list with a left oblique strain in early June he had been hitting .258/.301/.406 with three homers, 10 RBI and a pair of stolen bases through his first 138 plate appearances on the season.

Tovar is 2-for-12 in his three rehab games at Triple-A, but is still spending most of his time at designated hitter. The team will need to see him play shortstop for a full game, likely multiple in a row, before they feel comfortable bringing him off the IL. That could happen soon after the All-Star break though.

Tovar, 23, has been able to take batting practice and hit off the tee in the past week, but being able able to run the bases is a big step. Rockies manager Warren Sheffler told reporters that Tovar is close to having a rehab assignment, so there’s a chance we could see him back in the lineup for Colorado not long after the All-Star break.