DENVER — After coming from behind twice Thursday afternoon to beat the Rockies 9-6 and salvage a four-game series split, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez seemed anxious to get through his postgame interviews and get to the airport.
“Let’s get on the bird before they ask us to play another game here tomorrow,” he said. “Because that’s a pretty good club. I believe that club is getting ready to get hot.”
Brooks Conrad’s home run began a four-run rally in the seventh inning that turned a one-run deficit into a 9-6 lead in a game Colorado had led 4-0 after two innings.
Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward also homered for the Braves, while Tommy Hanson picked up his 11th win and Craig Kimbrel collected his 30th save to match a Braves rookie record held by Kerry Ligtenberg.
Kimbrel is 10 saves from matching the major league rookie held by Texas’ Neftali Feliz, a former Braves prospect.
“The series has been wild from the start, man,” said Conrad, filling in at second base after Dan Uggla strained a calf Wednesday. “Wish we could have played a little bit better baseball this series, but it’s a tough place to come and win ballgames. To come out of here with a win today was really big for us. That was a lot of fun today.”
It felt more like survival for Hanson (11-5), who allowed a season-high six runs in six innings and received a season-high nine support runs.
“Ugly one,” he said. “I don’t know, I just had to battle and battle and battle, and the whole time it seemed like I was on the hook. They’re obviously a good hitting team.
“I just did my best to keep them from scoring. I didn’t do a very good job of it, but I tried. ... I don’t know how I got the win, but I got the win.”
After the Rockies handed them their first back-to-back losses since mid-June, the Braves were in a hole early again Thursday. Carlos Gonzalez homered to start the first inning for the Rockies, who pushed the lead to 4-0 in the second when Dexter Fowler hit a two-run triple and stole home on an unusual play.
Fowler, an Atlanta native, would have been out, but the pitch caromed off catcher Brian McCann’s mitt and rolled 10 feet from the plate.
“You’d like to win [the series], but that’s huge to win that game today,” said Heyward, who went 2-for-5 with a double, three RBIs and his first road homer since April 25. “We could have folded real easily. It was a big team effort.”
Gonzalez left after injuring his right wrist on a swing in the fifth inning. He was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with inflamed ligaments.
Heyward cut the lead in half with his two-run homer in the third inning off Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin, the 10th home run for the right fielder in a difficult second season. Heyward also made a terrific catch at the line with a runner on in the third inning, sprinting to cover a lot of ground and laying out to rob Jason Giambi of an RBI.
“Helluva play,” Fredi Gonzalez said. “I mean, he can change the game in so many different ways, defensively and base running and obviously at the plate.”
Later in the third, the Braves loaded the bases with one out on a Freeman single and two walks before Alex Gonzalez hit a grounder to short. Conrad executed a hard slide into second and Gonzalez hustled to beat the relay and avoid the double play, allowing Freeman to score and cut the lead to 4-3.
The Braves took a 5-4 lead in the fifth on Freeman’s solo homer and Nate McLouth’s RBI single. Again, Conrad was in the middle of things.
After Freeman’s 15th homer — and sixth in eight games against the Rockies — Eric Hinske walked with one out and Conrad grounded to short. Conrad busted it down the first-base line to avoid the double play, then stole second base and scored on McLouth’s hit.
“That’s him,” Fredi Gonzalez said. “He’s a blue-collar guy, he’s going to give you everything he has. He prepares himself every day. I don’t even know when his last start was, and you run him in there today and he doesn’t miss a beat.”
Before Thursday, Conrad’s last start was July 4. He had only three plate appearances in the interim.
With one out in the fourth, Conrad homered off left-hander Matt Reynolds. The switch-hitter had been 0-for-8 with five strikeouts against lefties.
“That’s Brooksy, man,” Heyward said. “That’s him. He’s clutch. He went up there and had some patient AB’s today. Got a pitch to hit and didn’t miss it.”
After Conrad’s homer, Gonzalez doubled and McLouth hit a triple misplayed by right fielder Smith. McLouth made a nice slide to score on a grounder to third, and Heyward added an RBI double before the inning was over.
