Cron adds to tear with record-setting walk-off

DENVER -- C.J. Cron owns August, and the Rockies have made the walk-off their specialty.

Cron parked an opposite-way, one-out homer over the out-of-town scoreboard in right field off Daniel Hudson to give the Rockies a 6-5 victory over the Padres -- who just may be getting sick of them -- at Coors Field on Monday.

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In giving the Rockies their Majors-leading and club-record 11th walk-off win of the season and going 2-for-3, Cron is batting .400 (18-for-45) this month as he makes his case for a future in Rockies purple. He’s on a one-year contract.

“Your timing synced up and the swing’s working for you,” said Cron, whose homer was his team-leading 20th of the season. “It's always a good feeling. It's kind of nice when I’m feeling well and some of the balls are traveling for me.”

Cron was National League Player of the Week for Aug. 2-8, and went the opposite way for a homer at San Francisco’s Oracle Park for the Rockies’ only win on a six-game road trip that ended Sunday. His decisive blast on Monday kept his August golden.

“Overall, he’s been solid -- the numbers will reflect that,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “But lately, the last month or so, the at-bats are better. They really are.”

The Padres tied it in the ninth on Trent Grisham’s three-run, opposite-way homer to left off Daniel Bard, who screamed and doubled over in frustration -- not just over the homer, but over the two soft hits to start the inning. The ending also meant the Rockies could enjoy the seven-inning, two-run performance by righty Antonio Senzatela, who forced 14 groundouts, three of which began double plays.

Cron avenged Bard, and made Senzatela’s night more celebratory, with a homer off Hudson similar to Grisham’s dinger. Charlie Blackmon, who homered for two runs in the third, had hit a Hudson fastball hard to center to open the ninth. Cron wasn’t necessarily sitting on a first-pitch slider, but he was ready for it.

“As a hitter, we like to know how he’s going to try to attack us,” Cron said. “But I can't dive too far into that. I'm at my best when I'm seeing the pitch out of the hand and reacting to it.”

Cron’s shot improved the Rockies -- who also had homers from Connor Joe and Blackmon -- to 5-2 at home and 9-8 overall against a Padres team that’s finding the National League Wild Card race growing tight. The loss dropped them to 1 1/2 games ahead of the Reds for the second and final Wild Card spot.

The Rockies’ Coors record is 39-21 (.650), second only to the NL West-leading Giants (40-18, .690 at home going into Monday).

“We just have a lot of fun here, it seems like,” Cron said. “That’s a lot of walk-offs. It's definitely awesome that we're getting the job done late. It's just been a special place for us to play this year. And hopefully we can continue.”