LoDo Magic: Blackmon and Reynolds make Rockies NL's best

DENVER – When good baseball teams get together and play a contest it’s usually quiet to start. The starting pitchers command the pace and momentum and it’s won late into the evening. We saw this on Monday. The National League’s two best teams crossed paths in Denver, both coming in on heaters. The Washington Nationals got to the Colorado Rockies in the middle inning but the Denver nine answered late to win it 8-4.

Charlie Blackmon told BSN Denver over the weekend, “two-out hits are a big momentum shift—to get those hits and score those extra runs—It can change a game.”

In game one against the Nationals two two-out hits did just that. A sixth inning two-run home run from Mark Reynolds to cut the score to one and another two-run shot from Charlie Blackmon in the seventh, each representing the players’ sixth on the year corrected the scoreboard into the Rockies favor.

It was the furthest into the season that two first place teams met at Coors Field since 2013. Although Bryce Harper sat on his 11-for-his-last-20 tear and Stephen Strasburg was scratched from his Tuesday start, this four-game set is a huge measuring stick for the Rockies.

Tyler Anderson looked terrific to start out the game, tallying three strikeouts against his first four batters faced. Anderson was the first left-hander to pitch against the Nats in this young season and they struggled only generating two hits through five innings.

Jacob Turner made his debut for the Nationals, striking out six and working out of damage he was in line for the win until his bullpen happened.

The Rockies offense got it started with a three-hit second, all base hits, Tony Wolters nabbed his first RBI of the year, driving in Carlos Gonzalez.

Both teams remained quiet until the sixth when a one-out double from Trea Turner changed the fortunes of the battle. In their third time through the order the Nats couldn’t stop hitting the Rockies sophomore starter, a triple from Adam Eaton, a single from Anthony Rendon and a 425-foot shot from Ryan Zimmerman knocked out Tyler Anderson with two outs in the sixth.

The Rockies responded big time in their half, a triple from Nolan Arenado into the right-center gap gave the club’s most dangerous hitter, Reynolds an RBI spot. He powered a ball into the left field bleachers, again, cutting it to 4-3.

A shutdown inning from Carlos Estevez led the Rockies to the bottom half of their order in the seventh. Pat Valaika picked up his first hit of the year in his second at-bat, drawing a baserunner for the power-hitting one-hole Charlie Blackmon. He pummeled a ball 417 feet into the Colorado night to give the Rockies a 5-4 lead, which restored the magic in LoDo.

But wait. The Blake Street Boys weren’t done. five straight singles led to a three-run eighth and sealed it before Greg Holland could.

The Rockies have the second best start in franchise history through twenty games at 14-6, the bats have awaken and everything is coming up Colorado.