Brenton Doyle shines in center field but Rockies fall to Orioles

Center fielder Brenton Doyle was golden Friday night, but the Rockies’ offense was a no-show for most of the game.

So, in front of 30,444 fans, many of them wearing Orioles orange, Baltimore beat the Rockies 5-3 on a perfect late-summer night.

Ryan McMahon, who led off the sixth with a single, was Colorado’s lone baserunner after the third inning until the ninth when Brendan Rodgers crushed a one-out, 438-foot solo shot off right-hander Seranthony Dominguez. Rodgers homered for the second straight game after hitting two home runs against Miami on Thursday.

The O’s clinched the game in the top of the ninth on an RBI triple off the right-field wall by rookie Jackson Holliday, son of former Rockies icon Matt Holliday, who attended the game. Jackson Holliday then scampered home from third on a fielder’s choice turned error by relief pitcher Angel Chivilli.

Doyle, who won a Gold Glove as a rookie last season, did his best to steal the show.

His catch-and-throw double play in the fifth will rank among the best plays in the majors this season, alongside some of his other sparkling web gems.

Holliday drew a walk off Gomber to lead off the fifth and stole second base. Up stepped Austin Slater, who lashed a sinking liner to center, where Doyle turned on his turbocharger, made a diving catch, rolled over, and threw a strike to McMahon at third, who tagged Holliday trying to advance.

“To roll and then to get up and throw a strike to third? I mean, what a play,” manager Bud Black said. “The combination of the catch and the throw? Really outstanding.”

Doyle said his experience in center enabled him to get his bearing and make a throw that McMahon called “a perfect strike.”

“I’ve played the position for a very long time,” Doyle said. “I’ve made some pretty acrobatic movements out there, and that’s just one of them. That was pretty cool.”

Asked if he was amazed by Doyle’s brilliance, McMahon said, ‘Honestly, no. I’ve seen it so many times I’ve come to expect it. I’m standing that third base, and I’m going, ‘Get up and throw it! Get up and throw it!’ Because I know that he can do it.”

Then McMahon amended his initial response.

“Obviously, you don’t expect him to make a play like that,” he said. “That was incredible. I’m at a loss for words.”

Doyle bolstered his Gold Glove reputation in the sixth. Eloy Jimenez was perched on third with one out when Colton Cowser hit a high fly to Doyle in center. Against some center fielders, the slow-footed Jimenz might have tagged up and attempted to score. But with Doyle patrolling center, Jimenez didn’t even think about it. Naturally, Doyle’s throw home was on target. Consider it a warning shot.

Colorado’s other web gem came from first baseman Michael Toglia. He closed out the fourth with a diving grab of James McCann’s whistling drive down the line, robbing McCann of extra bases.

Lefty Austin Gomber, the beneficiary of that glittering defense, gave the Rockies six solid innings but left with a 3-2 deficit. The O’s tagged him for eight hits. He walked only one and struck out four.

Asked what was working for him, Gomber quipped, “The defense, honestly. I didn’t feel that sharp, especially early on. The arm felt a little slow. It’s the end of August; the body’s getting a little tired. So I wasn’t too sharp until I got sharper at the end.”

Two innings cost Gomber, who recorded his 10th quality start, his fourth at Coors Field. In the second, Cowser hit a one-out double off the right-field wall and scored on Emmanuel Rivera’s single to center. The back-breaker came in the fourth when Rivera launched his 426-foot homer to center, giving Baltimore a 3-2 lead.

“Austin hung in there, but they had some good at-bats against him, for sure,” Black said. “But ‘Gomby’ did his part –six innings, three runs. A lot of times, in this park, in the summer, you’ll take that.”

Colorado’s early offensive burst came in its two-run third when it hit four singles off right-hander Albert Suarez, with Ezequiel Tovar and Doyle driving in the runs. But Rodgers ground into an inning-ending double play with McMahon perched on third.

“We got eight hits but no walks,” Black said. “Suarez shut us down. He’s a veteran pitcher that really pitched. Enough velocity on the fastball — 93-94 (mph) — at the top of the zone and the bottom. Good little cutter away from the righties, a curveball, and a good changeup away from the lefties. He was tough.”