DENVER — On fireworks night at Coors Field, Ezequiel Tovar delivered a star-spangled performance.
The Rockies’ rookie shortstop hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning and also singled in Colorado’s five-run second in an 8-5 win over the Detroit Tigers in front of a sellout crowd of 47,239.
Tovar finished the night 2 for 4, extending his career-high hitting streak to 13 games, the longest by a Rockies player this season.
Colorado also got a huge boost from starter Austin Gomber, who became the first Rockies starter to pitch seven innings during a home game this season. Gomber gave up three runs on six hits and struck out seven. Best of all, he walked only one, reversing a trend of free passes that has plagued Colorado much of the season.
Tovar, at 21 the youngest position player to make his debut in franchise history, is hitting .358 (19 for 53) during his 13-game hitting streak. The shortstop has a hit in 26 of 29 games since May 27 and is batting .336 (38 for 113) over that span, tops on the club.
His homer was a 382-foot no-doubter to left off of lefty Jason Shreve’s first-pitch splitter. It was Tovar’s eighth homer of the season.
Gomber worked his way out of one messy inning — Detroit’s two-run fourth, in which he gave up consecutive singles to Javier Baez, Jake Rogers and Miguel Cabrera, and also uncorked a wild pitch. But Gomber escaped major trouble by getting Zack Short to fly out to center, striking out Jake Marisnick, and inducing Matt Vierling to ground out to second baseman Harold Castro.
Gomber retired 10 consecutive hitters from the fourth through the seventh inning and needed just 89 pitches (60 strikes) over his seven innings.
Detroit made things a bit uncomfortable in the eighth, cutting the lead to 8-5 on Andy Ibanez’s two-run homer off Jake Bird. Pierce Johnson pitched a scoreless ninth for his 13th save.
Despite their win Friday night, the Rockies finished June with a 9-18 record, tied with the 2012 club for the second-worst June in franchise history. The biggest June swoon was in 2014 when Colorado finished 8-20.
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