Sky Sox pitcher Alan Johnson went home to Alabama for a day to attend his brother’s high school graduation and was shocked at what occurred in his absence.

“My friends in Birmingham were all asking me what Triple-A is like and I said things can change fast,” Johnson said.

Little did he know.

The Colorado Rockies fired manager Clint Hurdle on Friday to set off a chain of events that brought new managers to their Triple-A team in Colorado Springs and Double-A Tulsa.

“I’m gone 20 hours and everything changes,” Johnson said. “We lose our manager and have different players.”

Newcomer Matt Belisle, sent down by the Rockies, started against Tacoma in the opener of an eight-game homestand. The Sky Sox erased a three-run deficit to win 13-9 before 4,272 at Security Service Field.

Matt Miller had four hits and five RBIs for the Sky Sox, while Eric Young Jr. added four hits and Christian Colonel slugged a two-run homer to snap a 9-9 tie in the seventh.

Hitting coach Rene Lachemann is the Sky Sox’s interim manager until Stu Cole arrives Sunday. Cole, 43, has been Tulsa’s manager the last four seasons since succeeding Runnells.

Now Runnells – hired as the Rockies’ bench coach when Jim Tracy was promoted from that spot to manager – and Cole take another step up the organizational ladder. Ron Gideon, the Rockies’ roving field coordinator, is the new Tulsa manager.

“We’re excited for TR (Runnells),” said Colonel, who played for Cole in Tulsa for parts of three seasons. “Stu is great, too. He’s a good manager and a good man. He’s a friend of mine. It’s a win-win situation.”

“Stu is a lot like TR, pretty laid-back,” Johnson said. “TR kept things positive and kept it light around the clubhouse even when we got hammered.”

Runnells left a first-place team for a last-place team, but the meal money and travel conditions improved dramatically.

“Everything’s first class up there,” said Lachemann, a former big-league manager with Seattle, Milwaukee and Florida. “… This league has the toughest travel in professional baseball.”

As for Runnells, Lachemann said, “He definitely has the ability to be in the majors as a manager, a bench coach, a third-base coach. He’s got it a whole lot better now and anybody here that doesn’t want to get up there needs to find something else to do.”

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