SAN DIEGO -- Rockies shortstop Ezequiel Tovar knows the path to gold is paved with bruises.
Last year, Tovar became the youngest shortstop in National League history to earn a Gold Glove. (He turned 23 on Aug. 1.) He was honored for playing to dazzling effect in 157 games, after playing just as well in 153 games as a rookie the previous year.
All those games are opportunities to make highlight plays, but they also are chances for aches and pains. And Tovar is racking up the bruises early this season.
Tovar got through Friday night unscathed, though the Rockies dropped an 8-0 decision in the series opener against the Padres at Petco Park. Tovar was 0-for-3 with a walk.
Tovar has felt pain in his left hip since the season-opening series, when he dove for a ball on a Tampa field (George M. Steinbrenner Field) that was hardened by a month of almost daily Spring Training games with no time for rest or resurfacing for the regular season. Yet Tovar played all 96 of the Rockies defensive innings until sitting out Thursday against the Brewers.
¡°I don¡¯t think there¡¯s a player that¡¯s going to always be 100% out there,¡± Tovar said in Spanish, with Edwin Perez interpreting. ¡°You figure out ways to play while you¡¯re a little injured -- whether you press the pants a little tighter to kind of get that feel, or anything like that.
¡°Obviously, if it¡¯s a bigger injury -- hands or something that¡¯s going to deter your game, that¡¯s when you¡¯ve got to take a break. But anything I can do to go out there and help the guys, I¡¯m going to go out and play.¡±
Thursday was a day of rest and treatment, but let¡¯s not call it healing. Tovar was back in the lineup on Friday night to share the pain of the shutout on a foggy night at Petco Park. The Rockies¡¯ record dropped to a murky 3-10.
Manager Bud Black didn¡¯t reveal the hip issue until after posting Thursday¡¯s lineup. Black knows Tovar doesn¡¯t need or want much rest.
¡°He has the mindset to do it,¡± Black said. ¡°He¡¯s shown to be durable.¡±
Not Tovar, not anyone, could stop Friday¡¯s slide once it began.
Starting pitcher Germ¨¢n M¨¢rquez held the Padres to two hits and struck out three in the first four innings. However, two errors from catcher Hunter Goodman and an opponent that, according to M¨¢rquez, is ¡°one of the best offenses in baseball¡± put up six runs (five earned) in the fifth. Plus, Padres starter Nick Pivetta struck out 10 in seven innings on a night Kyle Farmer had all three Rockies hits.
After summing up his night by saying, ¡°Everything is working and good things are coming,¡± M¨¢rquez lit up when asked about how comforting it is to look over his right shoulder and see the familiar sight of Tovar at shortstop, bruises and all.
¡°He can play 162 games,¡± M¨¢rquez said. ¡°It¡¯s good to see that guy in there every night. He won¡¯t complain. He always wants to play baseball. It¡¯s good to have guys like that.¡±
Last season, Tovar led the NL with 45 doubles and was second in the league with 75 extra-base hits. With the team struggling almost throughout the order this year, Tovar has been up and down and is batting .260 with no home runs, but his strikeout rate through 12 games is 18.9% after finishing last year at 28.8%.
¡°He¡¯ll go hot and cold,¡± Black said. ¡°But what I like is that the chase rate has come down. The strikeout rate has come down. So he¡¯s got to continue that. The thing he¡¯s really focused on this year is that. If he does that throughout the course of the season, it¡¯s going to be a really good offensive year.¡±
Tovar and the Rockies expect another exceptional defensive year, even though the early part of the season has been a test of pain tolerance.
During the team¡¯s first homestand, one grounder took a strange hop a few feet in front of Tovar and bounced off his bare right hand instead of going into his glove. On Tuesday, a ball took a bad hop during infield practice and struck him in the nose. Tovar has committed three errors after finishing last year with eight.
¡°You always try to find the good bounce,¡± Tovar said, smiling. ¡°But there are going to be times when the bad bounce gets you and it hits you. It¡¯s all part of the game.¡±