Gamer 02
MLB.com, July 20, 2007
Spilborghs' catch sparks Rockies win
By Michael Phillips
WASHINGTON -- Last Friday, Ryan Spilborghs had a chance to steal a home run from Milwaukee's Ryan Braun, but couldn't scale the center-field fence.
So, when Spilborghs got to the ballpark the next day, he had teammate Garrett Atkins toss him fly balls while he practiced climbing the fence, a drill fans probably won't find in any baseball instruction book.
The practice paid off on Friday at RFK Stadium as Spilborghs denied Brian Schneider a home run in the fifth inning of a 3-1 victory over the Nationals. He then made a show of proving he had the ball.
"I think I was holding the ball more for the other guys," he admitted.
The play was the lone highlight in an otherwise uneventful game. By the fifth inning, the Washington crowd was so bored they'd already done the wave and tossed around a beach ball.
In fact, the surprise was not that Colorado won, but that it was only able to score three runs. Six of the Rockies' half innings ended with a runner stranded in scoring position.
"We had opportunities for more, there's no doubt about that," manager Clint Hurdle said. "The last two nights we've stymied that a little bit."
It didn't matter as the Rockies got a gem of a performance from pitcher Aaron Cook, who went seven innings and didn't allow a run.
He's not usually a strikeout pitcher, but he was able to log a career-high eight of them on Friday. Most of those came on breaking balls he threw deep into the count.
"Usually I just keep attacking guys with the sinker over and over again," he said. "Tonight, I felt good enough to keep throwing the slider."
Hurdle compared his form to his 2004-05 seasons, and said that Cook's last two outings have been among his best of the season. One of the big adjustments he made is slowing down when he gets runners on base.
During the All-Star break, the coaches took Cook aside and told him that when he was pitching out of the stretch, he was rushing through his motions.
"I've slowed things down tremendously," he said. "I don't get excited when there are guys on base. I know I'm always one pitch away from getting a ground ball for a double play."
He was also assisted by spacious RFK Stadium. In addition to Spilborghs' catch, Ryan Church hit a deep fly ball in the fourth inning that hit the top of the center-field wall.
"I thought Church's ball was out," Hurdle said. "This park plays big."
In the eighth, Jorge Julio held the game by allowing just one run. Julio put the first three runners of the inning on base, but he was able to exercise patience after that.
"One of the things he's done in the past is try to get three outs before he gets one," Hurdle said. "One of the things he did today was stay composed. That was big for us."
On offense, Colorado struck first in the third, loading the bases with no outs and bringing in two runs -- Cook and Willy Taveras. The Rockies ended the inning with two runners stranded.
In the seventh, the Rockies again loaded the bases, but only Taveras was able to score. He did so on Todd Helton's second sacrifice fly of the night. Helton had two sacrifice flies, with the other runner scoring on a fielder's choice from Matt Holiday.
After the game, the talk of the locker room was Spilborghs' catch. While he debated with teammates over how high it would reach in tonight's "top plays" countown, Hurdle was asked what kind of team would spent 20 minutes scaling the fences in practice.
"Our guys are a little unorthodox," he said. "That's the way we're wired."
Michael Phillips is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.