Reds Video

Gomes' solo jack

Gomes' two-run double

Rockies Video

Gonzalez's 30th homer

Gonzalez's strong throw

Rockies skipper Jim Tracy has been riding the MVP-caliber season of his young outfielder, Carlos Gonzalez, in hopes that Colorado can clinch a second consecutive October berth by catching the Padres in the NL West. And if that happens, there's a good chance it will be largely thanks to Gonzalez, who continues to put up eye-popping numbers and seemingly adds to them every night.

When the Reds and Rockies clash in Thursday's series finale at Coors Field, with Cincinnati rookie left-hander Travis Wood pitching against Rockies righty Jason Hammel, there's a good chance there will continue to be offensive fireworks.

For the Reds, it could come from outfielder Jonny Gomes, whose bat is starting to come to life again after a rough six weeks. Gomes already has six RBIs in September and hit a home run Tuesday night before going hitless in three at-bats in Wednesday's game.

"[Gomes] has hit the ball great the last few days," Baker said. "He's slowed everything down. Sometimes he gets a little jumpy. He's slowed everything and allows his hands to work. We need somebody, especially in the middle, to get hot other than Joey [Votto] or Scotty [Rolen]. Hopefully Brandon [Phillips] will get hot here."

Meanwhile, the beat goes on for the man they call CarGo.

The 24-year-old extended his career-long hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the sixth inning of Wednesday's win over the Reds, and the hitting streak is the longest by a Rockies player this season, two games longer than Clint Barmes' 14-game hitting streak from June 23-July 7. Gonzalez is the sixth Rockies player to have a hitting streak of at least 15 games since 2007, the last being Yorvit Torrealba's 16 games from Aug. 9-Sept. 8, 2009, and it's also the longest active streak in baseball.

But there's more.

Gonzalez enters Thursday leading the National League in two of the three Triple Crown categories. His 100 RBIs now top the NL, along with his .340 batting average. He's tied for third in the NL with his 32 home runs.

Reds: Wood coming on strong
Wood last pitched Saturday at St. Louis and earned the victory with seven innings of five-hit ball, giving up one unearned run. He struck out three, walked two and also hit the first home run of his career, a solo shot off Adam Wainwright. He's made 10 of his 12 starts on the road and is 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA in those outings. ... So far, 29 of rookie lefty Aroldis Chapman's pitches have reached at least 100 mph on the scoreboards' radar guns. His 103.9-mph pitch on Sept. 1 to Milwaukee's Jonathan Lucroy is the second-fastest on record using MLB.com's Pitch/fx technology (Joel Zumaya hit 104.8 mph on Oct. 10, 2006, vs. Chicago's Frank Thomas).

Rockies: Tulo good to go
Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has become eligible for the batting race, and he currently ranks third in the NL with a .322 average. To be eligible for the batting title, a player must have 3.1 plate appearances for every team game played. Tulowitzki currently has 432 plate appearances through 139 Rockies games (3.17 PAs per team game). The minimum amount of plate appearances needed to qualify for the batting race at the end of the season is 502. ... After going 2-for-23 over a six-game stretch from Aug. 27-Sept. 1, Eric Young Jr. has gone 8-for-22 with two doubles and four runs scored over his past five games. Young has multiple hits in four of his previous five games.

Worth noting
The Reds have lost five games in a row for the first time since April 14-18, and prior to this streak had last lost four in a row July 8-11 when swept by the Phillies. ... Reds outfielder Drew Stubbs is hitting .307 (27-for-88) with two homers, 12 RBIs and 20 runs in his last 24 starts. ... Melvin Mora's triple in Tuesday night's game was the Rockies' 46th as a team this season. The Rockies continue to lead the Majors in triples, now nine more than the next-closest team (New York Mets). The club record for triples in a single season is 61, set in 2001.