Rockies erupt for 18 runs, leave Padres in ashes

DENVER – Mount Vesuvius, Mount St. Helens, the Colorado Rockies offense.

Legendary explosions are the only thing comparable to what the Denver Nine did today with the wood. They erupted for 21 hits in an 18-4 win over the San Deigo Padres.

Nolan Arenado had a career day going 5-for-6 at the dish with a career best three home runs and seven RBI.

For the second straight game, Colorado plated three runs in the first inning. Charlie Blackmon extended his hit streak to 14 games right off the bat (get it?) with a bloop single to left and DJ LeMahieu followed with a walk and Arenado — as he so often does — delivered the first RBI of the game for the Rockies with a single up the middle. LeMahieu scored on a passed ball and a pair of productive outs — a grounder to second from Mark Reynolds and a sac fly to center from Ian Desmond — brought in Arenado for the third run.

Colorado kept it cracking in the second, getting a two-out rally that began with a plunking of Blackmon. LeMahieu pulled a single away from the dramatic shift the Padres have started to employ on him. Arenado liked what he did so much in the first in the same situation that he decided to repeat it, singling up the middle to score Blackmon and give everyone a bit of deja vu.

They kept the scoring-in-every-inning thing going in the third starting with a one-out triple to straight away center off the bat of Trevor Story. He came in on a Ryan Hanigan single that darted by a pulled-in Padres infield to make it 6-0, Rockies.

In the top of the fourth, Gray allowed singles to Wil Myers and Hector Sanchez to start the inning, giving him a first-and-third, nobody out situation. The young man who is trying to reclaim the mantle of Rockies ace found his best stuff in that moment striking out Jabari Bash looking with a nasty backup slider, getting a pop up on the infield from Cory Spangenberger and striking out Franchy Cordero to strand the runners and keep the scoreboard clean.

Arenado piled on right after that with a solo shot in the bottom of the frame, a 431-foot line drive blast to left. After a couple of outs, Parra singled to right once again, making it the 10th consecutive time he had reached base, going back to Monday’s game. Per Elias, there are only five other players in Rockies history who have reached base that many times in a row. It has been achieved seven times with Larry Walker and Todd Helton accomplishing the feat twice. Eric Young, DJ LeMahieu, and Brad Hawpe round out the list.

Parra came in to score on a frozen rope homer off the bat of Trevor Story. It was the first home run Story has hit since July 1 and only the second since June 18. He has been much better at the plate, especially with runners on, since the break and if he continues to show improvement could be a huge “addition” to the offense in the second half.

After Hanigan hit a ground-rule double and scored on a single from Gray to make it 10-0, Rockies, Clayton Richard was finally removed from the game for reliever Kevin Quakenbush.

The very first pitch Quakenbush threw was destroyed by Blackmon and deposited deep over the center field fence to make it 12-0.

The Rockies obligatory run of the inning for the fifth came courtesy of Arenado’s second home run of the game, an opposite field shot which is unusual for him, that soared over the high fence in right-center field.

Jon Gray was cruising with a shutout until he momentarily lost the good command in the sixth. A trio of singles from Carlos Asuaje, Sanchez, and Jabari Blash plated a run and set the stage for a three-run homer off the bat of Cory Spangenberg. Gray, pitching with a huge lead, had clearly consigned himself to pitch in the zone but was catching too much of the plate and it cost him. He righted the ship and finished the inning.

His final line: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 7K. He threw 72 of 103 pitches for strikes.

After Story drew a walk and Hanigan singled to start the sixth, the Rockies experienced quite the scare as Charlie Blackmon had to be removed from the game with an apparent hamstring injury. He was 3-for-3 in the game with two RBI and three runs scored. He leads MLB in hits at 129.

While any long term absence of Blackmon could have a devastating effect on the Rockies, there was no short-term impact as Pat Valaika stepped into an 0-2 count and delivered an RBI single up the middle to give the Rockies their largest run total of the season (to that point) at 14.

And just when the townsfolk thought it might be over, that the fire might cease to fall from the sky, Arenado smashed his third home run (fifth hit) on a fastball off the plate inside, ripping it just inside the foul pole in left to score three more runs and give himself a seven RBI day.

Desmond scored on a sac fly from Hanigan in the eighth to bring the astounding tally to 18 runs. They scored 36 runs over the three-game sweep of the Padres and have scored 49 runs over their last four games. This all comes on the heels of panic among some fans and pundits who wish to see the Rockies add a bat by the trade deadline.

Colorado moved to 56-41 and await the result of Arizona and LA to see if they have made up any ground in the post season races.