TJ Rumfield and the Rockies were not having a good Sunday.  The first baseman was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts, and the Rockies trailed the Pirates 8-1 when Rumfield came to the plate in the eighth inning.

But the 26-year-old Rumfield, who’s displayed remarkable patience and plate discipline for a rookie, waited on reliever Dennis Santana’s 3-1 changeup and smashed it into the seats beyond right field for a three-run homer. The Rockies scored two more runs in the eighth, but the Pirates prevailed, 8-6, denying Colorado a three-game sweep at Coors Field.

Still, Rumfield continues to put himself into the early conversation for National League rookie of the year. His homer was his 12th on the season, and he leads the Rockies with 42 RBIs. He ranks among qualified NL rookies in hits (tied for first, 74), homers (tied for second), OPS (first, .842), batting average (second, .279), RBIs (second), and slugging percentage (second, .483).

“He’s doing it in all facets of the game,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “His defense has been outstanding. I’d start there. I’d start with the consistency of the at-bats — walks. The ability to play every day, through everything, that’s what good players do. He posts up. Really, I’d point to everything he’s doing. The only thing he doesn’t do is steal bases.”

The soft-spoken Rumfield, predictably, said that visions of postseason honors have not entered his head, even after he was named NL rookie of the month in May.

“Even a thing like rookie of the month is just outside noise,” Rumfield said. “It has nothing to do with how I am going to prepare for the game tomorrow or the next day or the day after. It’s nice to be recognized for something, but also, you need to know what it took to get there.”

Over his last 11 games, Rumfield is hitting .357 (15 for 42) with 10 extra-base hits — four doubles, one triple, and five homers. For the season, he’s hitting .299 with runners in scoring position.

He was taught in the Yankees’ minor league system that the ability to produce runs is paramount. He learned a hard lesson at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, under assistant hitting coach Trevor Amicone, now a coach with the Twins.

“I grounded into a double play on a first pitch (against) a relief pitcher,” recalled Rumfield, whom the Rockies acquired in a January trade. “I remember the hitting coach sat me down the next day. He basically laid it out and said, ‘That can’t happen. If you are going to be one of the guys that hits in the middle of the order, and if you ground into a double play, your team has no chance.’ It’s just things like that, and situations, and being on that sort of stuff.”

On Sunday, Colorado had just one hit through the first seven innings, and starter Michael Lorenzen struggled to put Pirates hitters away, even though he felt that his stuff was solid. The right-hander gave up four runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. Nick Gonzales mashed a two-run, 431-foot homer to left-center in the fourth.

“I thought Mike was good, I thought it was another building block for him,” Schaeffer said. “I thought he pitched very well and got ahead in counts.”

Lorenzen, who has a 7.11 ERA, has definitely pitched better of late, throwing at least five innings in each of his last three starts, while posting a 3.52 ERA with 17 strikeouts. But he was not happy with his performance on Sunday.

“I just let too many guys off the hook, and that was frustrating,” he said. “Most of the hits were two strikes, and there were a lot of two-strike pitches in play because I couldn’t execute a 1-2 or 0-2 pitch that was anywhere near the zone.

“It’s one of those things that is going to keep me up at night because, like I said, I let a lot of guys off the hook. If I could have just executed on pitch to a lot of those guys, we’re in a much better spot as a team.”

Pitching probables

Monday: Red Sox LHP Jake Bennett (1-3, 4.79 ERA) at Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (2-2, 5.05), 6:40 p.m.
Tuesday: Red Sox RHP Sonny Gray (8-1, 3.12) at Rockies LHP Sean Sullivan (0-1, 10.29), 6:40 p.m.
Wednesday: Red Sox LHP Ranger Suarez (3-3, 2.93) at Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (1-7, 7.36), 1:10 p.m.
Thursday: Off day

TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM

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