Rockies Review: April 28, 1999 - Hall of Famer slugs trio of dingers against St. Louis

You can’t have a much more productive day at the ballpark than Larry Walker on this date in 1999.

It might even be argued that his performance planted a seed for his future employer to acquire the Canadian slugger down the line.

Excluding a Mike Lansing RBI-single, Walker provided all of the offense in the 9-7 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals thanks to a three homer effort.

By the end of the second inning, the future Hall of Famer had already tagged Cards’ starting pitcher José Jiménez with a pair of three-run dingers.

On the flip side, it’s doubtful the Rockies were impressed by Jiménez after seven runs in two innings, but they’d acquire the Dominican pitcher in the offseason and properly convert him into a successful relief pitcher.

St. Louis chipped away at Colorado’s early lead and brought the score to within one going into the top of the seventh. With Lansing on first base courtesy of a single, Walker sent reliever Scott Radinsky’s offering over the right field wall in Busch Stadium for his final home run of the night.

Walker’s trio of long balls was the second of three in his career with Colorado, all of which came on the road.

Around & Around

On this day in 2010, Colorado and Arizona conducted one of their famous duels at Coors Field with the visitors ending on top, 12-11.

Following the DBacks’ six-run first inning that wiped out starter Greg Smith, 10 Rockies’ batters were sent to the plate during a six-run third inning that made it 7-6 in their favor.

With Matt Belisle making quick work of the Snakes in the top of the next inning, Colorado scored four more runs and sent 10 hitters to the dish once again marking one of only 11 occurrences in Rockies history that the team batted around twice in the same game and only the second time they did so in consecutive innings.

The Debut

On the same day Pittsburgh’s 9-1 win in St. Louis marked Clint Hurdle’s 700th career win as a manager, Nolan Arenado made his major league debut in a 4-2 loss at Arizona in 2013.

Batting seventh and playing third base, the 2nd round selection out of the El Toro (CA) High School went 0-for-3 before drawing a walk in the ninth against Diamondbacks closer J.J. Putz during a failed comeback rally.

Fun Fact

In 1993, Colorado begins a two-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals at home which is attended by 107,273 baseball fanatics, a franchise record for a two-game series that may never be broken.

On This Day In Baseball History

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson smashed the first 586 career home run in 1956 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati during the Redlegs 9-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. (From 1954-58, the Reds opted for the alternative moniker in response to the growth of McCarthyism and fear of Communism.)

Eight years later in 1964, Barry Larkin was born in Cincinnati and later spend his entire 19-year, Hall of Fame career with the Reds.