DENVER – Two-time All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman left Monday’s 8-7 loss in the series opener against the Padres due to right thumb soreness after making a throw to second during Blas Castaño’s warmup pitches prior to the top of the seventh inning. He is considered day to day, pending further evaluation on Tuesday.
Goodman looked to the dugout after his throw to second and shook his head, apparently to confirm that he could not effectively continue following the injury.
Goodman injured the thumb during a headfirst slide into third base on his triple as part of a three-run inning in the bottom of the sixth. He was on base for one batter as TJ Rumfield grounded to third for the final out.
“My right hand, my thumb, got caught on the bag, and I don’t really know what happened after that,” Goodman said. “When I dove, I thought my right hand was going to slide past the bag and not touch it, and my right thumb kind of just hit the side.”
Goodman’s triple was the 10th of his career, tying him with Chris Iannetta for second-most career triples by a Rockies primary catcher (min. 50% of games), trailing only Joe Giardi’s 11.
Though he quickly discovered he wasn’t going to be able to throw at a suitable level Monday, he had yet to determine if the injury would affect his swinging a bat.
“I haven’t tested it yet,” Goodman said. “That’ll be more of a tomorrow thing.”
Goodman said he has never experienced that kind of thumb injury before.
“That’s why I’m unsure about what’s wrong with it,” Goodman said. “I don’t know how bad or good it is yet. The X-rays were clean, but other than that, I don’t know.”
Goodman went 2-for-3 with a run scored, doubling in the first, grounding to the catcher in the third and walking in the fifth before his sixth-inning triple. He hit his 38th homer of the season Saturday in Detroit, which is tied for fifth in the Majors.
“We did some things in the cage today, and we kind of started doing some different things in Detroit the second-to-last day,” Goodman said of his offensive surge. “You try different things in the cage, and you hope it translates to the game. It doesn’t always happen that fast, but I felt really good in the box today. Saw the ball well.”
Goodman said that the fact that he went back out to try to continue in the field in the top of the seventh didn’t indicate anything about the severity of the injury.
“Anybody at this level will want to keep competing,” Goodman said. “Anybody would try to go back out there.”
He certainly captured the competitive spirit of the team, which fell behind by five in the third inning, then climbed back within a run in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
“We’ve done it all year,” Goodman said. “[The Padres are] a playoff team with a really good bullpen, and we’re able to scratch runs across off anybody. We’ve just got to find a way to get that big knock at the end of the game, or shut them down after a big inning, or stuff like that that we can improve upon, and we should start getting some of these close wins instead of being on the other side of it.”
The Rockies outhit the Padres, 14-13, but they trailed for eight innings after the Padres put together a four-run second.
“There were runs that could have been prevented, unlucky hits,” Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano said of the Padres’ lineup, speaking through an interpreter. “They’ve been hitting pretty well the last few games, and the results say everything.”
Sugano pitched five innings and gave up six runs, all earned, on eight hits and a walk while striking out two. He has allowed five or more runs in five of his last six starts.
Manager Warren Schaeffer characterized the team’s eighth straight loss as “a very, very good game,” noting the relentless approach of the Rockies as they fought their way back throughout the night.
“It’s easy when you get down, 6-1, and you’re on a seven-game losing streak, to mail it in,” Schaeffer said. “But the guys in that [locker] room don’t do that. That’s why we’re gonna be good here eventually.”