Rockies' potent offense keeps rolling along
Club ties franchise record in 6th straight game with 12 or more hits
PHOENIX -- When Ryan McMahon rolls through the names in Colorado’s lineup, he’s not surprised to see the offensive numbers from the past week.
In Wednesday night’s 6-4 win over the D-backs at Chase Field, the Rockies collected 14 hits, marking their sixth straight game with 12 or more hits to tie a franchise record that was set April 6-11, 1998, and matched July 1-7, 2010.
Charlie Blackmon, who had five straight games with three or more hits entering Wednesday, is a key reason for that recent outburst, but he’s not the only one.
“Setting records like that, that’s pretty impressive,” McMahon said. “Charlie’s obviously at the forefront of all that, he’s been playing amazing. But [Ian] Desmond, [Daniel] Murphy, Nolan [Arenado], [Trevor] Story, [David] Dahl, you just say those names, those are all very good hitters. So, I don’t think we look at it like, ‘Oh, this is a crazy stretch we’re on.’ I just think it’s our team’s potential.”
Blackmon could have tied an MLB record had he recorded his sixth consecutive three-hit game. He extended his hitting streak to nine games, but he was 1-for-5 with only a seventh-inning single. However, that didn’t slow the red-hot Rockies’ offense.
McMahon went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and had the big knock in a three-run rally in the seventh against Zack Greinke. The D-backs ace gave up five consecutive hits to begin the frame, which included a go-ahead two-run double by McMahon and an RBI single by Tony Wolters.
The Rockies tagged Greinke for five runs over seven innings and collected 11 hits off the right-hander, tied for the most he’s allowed in a start vs. Colorado. He also gave up 11 against the Rockies while with the Dodgers on June 7, 2014.
“He's a hell of a pitcher, man,” McMahon said. “There's a reason he's been around this game for so long. He's not an easy at-bat, that's for sure. But we're a good hitting ballclub, and we got to him.”
Daniel Murphy hit a game-tying two-run homer in the fourth, erasing the early advantage the D-backs had against Rockies right-hander Jon Gray.
Gray settled in to pitch six innings and earned his third win in four starts. The right-hander gave up two runs (one earned), both of which came in the second, and escaped several jams, stranding six D-backs baserunners including a pair in the sixth.
While Gray delivered a quality start, he enjoyed watching his teammates rake.
“They’re still on fire, and it’s fun to watch,” Gray said.
After opening the season 3-12, the Rockies are a season-high five games above .500 at 39-34. They’ve scored six or more runs in six straight games and in eight of the last nine. And they’ve opened a nine-game road trip against National League West rivals with back-to-back wins, including Wednesday’s against a one-time Cy Young Award winner.
“I thought our at-bats were aggressive early in the game, I thought we didn’t really expand the zone,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We had some good swings early, we hit some balls hard, but nothing to show for it. Then, as the game went on, we got some balls through …
“In the big inning, we bunched hits. We got some singles, we got some balls in the gaps. The approach didn’t change.”
And if that approach continues, the Rockies could keep putting up big offensive numbers in their push for a third straight postseason appearance.