ST. LOUIS (AP) — Hunter Goodman has Kyle Farmer to thank for the two long homers the Colorado slugger hit on back-to-back days at St. Louis.
Goodman borrowed Farmer’s bat for the he hit on Wednesday to give the Rockies over the Cardinals. The All-Star catcher also used Farmer’s lumber a night earlier when he sent a ball 436 feet in .
Farmer said Goodman can keep it.
“It’s a gift,” Farmer said. “I turn 35 in five days so I just keep on giving, I guess. He’s got some serious juice. He’s a really good hitter, a smart hitter.”
Goodman leads the Rockies with 24 homers. On Wednesday, he entered as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and sent a 3-2 sinker from JoJo Romero into the grass beyond the center field fence.
“I was just looking for something up in the zone,” Goodman said. “He left a sinker up the middle. I know what he’s trying to do.”
It was the first pinch homer for the 25-year-old Goodman, who has gone deep five times in the last 10 games.
Goodman broke a scoreless tie on Tuesday with a two-run blast off Matthew Liberatore in the fourth inning. That one landed on the on the concourse beyond the left-field lower-deck seats.
“A shout-out to Farmer for the bat,” Goodman said. “I couldn’t have done it without his bat. I’ve used his bat now the last two days. I have to give him some of the credit.”
Why the switch?
“It’s a long season. His bat is a little shorter than my bat so I figured I might as well try something else right now,” Goodman said. “As the season goes on, it’s now August and the dog days. You get a little tired. Sometimes adjustments like that can help.”
It helped for Goodman and the major league-worst Rockies, who had lost eight straight before the two wins over the Cardinals.
“In these past two games, he’s shown that no moment is too big for him,” Farmer said. “He’s got a slow heartbeat, and he comes up big in big moments. He’s got a bright future.”
Interim manager Warren Schaeffer agreed.
“He’s an All-Star for a reason,” Schaeffer said. “He loves those situations. He wants to hit in big-time spots. That’s just who he is. He’s really coming into his own this season.”
___
AP MLB:
