DENVER — In order to secure his eighth save of 2016, Colorado Rockies rookie closer Carlos Estevez needed to battle against a lead-off double, a bases-loaded-with-one-out-in-a-one-run-game situation, and a left shoulder that just wouldn’t stay in its socket.
“I’m good, I’m good,” he said immediately after the game. “This one [his left shoulder] just still pops out sometimes since I was like seven or six. I don’t remember how I popped it out the first time, but it still does it sometimes. Tomorrow, I’ll be sore but I’ll be fine.”
He says this is not the first time this has happened while he was on the mound, recounting a similar event from a few years ago: “I did it one year in Low-A,” he says. “But I still pitched through it, that’s just my left arm, just not much worry, I’ll be fine.”
Estevez rotated his shoulder at this point in the conversation and an audible pop sent shivers down my spine. But the 23-year-old who has carved out a spot as an MLB closer just a few months into his career was more focused on the game than on his uniquely ailing shoulder.
“They left me in, in that situation. They trust me,” he says.
That might have something to do with him striking out over ten batters per nine innings on the season and has shown a remarkable ability to learn and adjust so early in his career.
And the trust paid off. After a quick trip to the mound from head trainer Keith Dugger, Estevez simply popped his shoulder back into place and struck out Jace Peterson with the game in the balance, sending the Rockies off winners in one of the most dramatic moments of the season.
“I got into a mess, but I got out of it,” he said afterwards. His thought process? Simple: “We needed this one, let’s get it right now.”
And it clearly felt good to get that one. After putting the win in the record books, Estevez pumped his fist and embraced his catcher, elated that he came through for his teammates in such a high-pressure situation.
Looks like that felt pretty good, I say.
“Yes,” he says with his trademark smile, “Yes it did.”
