DENVER -- One day this spring, Rockies veteran
Owings, who played six positions in his 17 games with the Rockies before a hamstring injury felled him for the rest of the year, started at second base. It was Owings’ eighth Opening Day and sixth start, and he felt the excitement all over again when he learned about his assignment Wednesday after a team workout.\n\n“It's crazy when you walk down the tunnel here at Coors -- there's an Opening Day lineup for every season they've had a team,” Owings said. “Your name is on there, so it definitely is an honor.”\n\n• Rockies set 26-man roster, DFA Jairo Díaz\n\nThursday’s Opening Day start even surpassed 2017 with the D-backs, when his RBI single off Mark Melancon provided Arizona with a 6-5 win.\n\nOwings tripled in the third off Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers’ lefty of undisputed grandeur, to start a three-hit, three-run, one-walk, two-steal offensive performance that also included a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth. Owings also had a sliding, backhanded stop of an Austin Barnes grounder, before flipping to shortstop
“‘C.O.’ is a really good person, first and foremost,” Story said of Owings. “You always root for guys like that. He puts in the work. Last year was a really tough year for him, injury-wise. He brought those same values. He’s a good player. He can defend. He can hit. He’s pretty talented.”\n\nOwings’ opposite-way triple off the out-of-town scoreboard in right allowed the Rockies to take advantage of an Opening Day happening even stranger than Kershaw giving up six runs, five earned, in 5 2/3 innings. (Over his eight previous openers, Kershaw had a 1.05 ERA.)\n\nIn the top of the third, Rockies left fielder
Owings and the Rockies responded immediately in the bottom of the frame. He lofted Kershaw’s 1-2 pitch to right for the triple, then scored on
Starting Owings at second and Fuentes at third meant