After slow start, Blackmon hitting stride at the plate

DENVER -- Charlie Blackmon quipped that he finally caught Hall of Fame electee Todd Helton in a category that doesn’t involve pain.

Blackmon doubled twice and homered during the Rockies’ 5-2 loss to the Pirates at Coors Field on Friday night. Blackmon matched Helton for the club record for games with three extra-base hits, with 16.

“That’s cool – I guess if you've been playing a long time, stuff like that happens,” Blackmon said. “I think that's the only thing, except for maybe hit-by-pitches, that I’ve done at a better rate than Todd.”

For the record, Blackmon -- in his 14th season with the Rockies -- owns the club hit-by-pitch mark with 107. Helton, who played his entire 17-year career with the Rockies, didn’t have nearly as many pitched-ball bruises (57, good for fourth).

But whether hitting the ball or letting the ball hit him, Blackmon, who turns 38 on July 1, is a model of consistency. The strategy to space out Blackmon’s playing time to keep him fresh led to a slow start at the plate for the veteran. But Blackmon came off a 10-for-28 performance during a seven-game road trip -- where the Rockies were a competitive 3-4 against the Cardinals and Twins -- with Friday’s 3-for-4 and a walk.

But Blackmon, whose 147 career three-hit games rank third among active players behind Jose Altuve (201) and Freddie Freeman (184), ended up scoring both runs for the Rockies, who went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

“The timing is there with Charlie,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He’s getting to fastballs like he did in the ninth against [David] Bednar and he got a ball up in the strike zone from [Luis] Ortiz and he delivered.

“Any hitter, when they're going well, they're seeing the ball and their timing is on. They're reacting to Major League fastballs and they're able to hit the secondary pitches too. Charlie's no doubt in a good spot. That happens right when a hitter is right. We need more of that throughout our lineup.”

The slower pace of playing time early in the year is paying off.

“Luckily, I’m healthy, and I’ve been able to play quite a bit lately,” Blackmon said. “And my body feels good.”

The Rockies often threaten big run outputs, but don’t consistently deliver.

A fifth-inning opportunity went to waste when Blackmon doubled behind Adael Amador’s single off Ortiz to put runners at second and third with no outs. But Amador was erased at the plate when former Rockies outfielder Connor Joe made a perfect throw from right field, after catching Brenton Doyle’s medium depth fly ball. It took Ezequiel Tovar’s RBI triple to drive in Blackmon for the Rockies’ only run that inning.

“That’s the name of the game: consistency,” Blackmon said. “We've seen it -- put it all together and play good baseball. A lot of teams can do that. That's not necessarily the hard part, having the ability. It’s just figuring out how to do it consistently.

“And some little things, too, like picking up that extra run here or there, making the defensive play here or there, can help us. Lately we’ve been leaving some runs out there that we’d like to cash in on.”