It’s well past time for Charlie Blackmon to have his name considered among the elite players in MLB. His two-home run night powered the Colorado Rockies past the Philadelphia Phillies in an 8-2 win and helped keep his club atop the National League standing.
Blackmon has been nothing short of phenomenal all season. In fact, going back to the beginning of 2016, he ranks behind just Bryce Harper in fWAR and he has been getting better and better each season. His two hits (both no-doubt shots) and four RBI in the game bring his batting average up to .325 and place him in first place in all of baseball at driving in runs despite hitting from the lead-off spot, the least advantageous position to do so.
He put the Rockies on top 2-0 with his first homer of the night, going down and hammering a curveball low in the zone, 106 mph off the bat careening off the facade of the second deck over the right field bleachers.
German Marquez continues the most promising trend of 2017 for Colorado baseball, the excellent starting pitching from first and second-year guys. One of the youngest of the bunch, Marquez got knocked around a lot in his first outing against the Washington Nationals but since has been superb since joining the MLB rotation in the shadow of the Jon Gray injury.
Marquez walked in a run in the third then induced the double play to escape the jam. As it turned out, that was the only run he would allow, showing poise despite traffic and better control over his secondary stuff than he has yet exhibited at this level.
After narrowly avoiding real trouble there, the Rockies bust out in a big way in the fourth. These single-inning offensive explosions have become the calling card of this road trip.
Carlos Gonzalez started things with his second single of the game and moved to third on an Ian Desmond double. CarGo has now reached base 11 times in his last four games. He is hitting .314 over his last 10 games.
Gerardo Parra singled in Gonzalez, Alexi Amarista singled in Desmond and Tony Wolter’s fielder’s choice made it 5-1, Rockies. Blackmon then strode to the plate and drove the dagger firmly into the Phillies hopes and dreams of winning this particular contest. He took a fastball at the top of the zone and blasted it 107 mph off the bat, to nearly the same spot he hit the first one.
The second shot gave Blackmon 40 RBI which leads MLB. He is a lead-off hitter. Unreal. He overtook teammate Mark Reynolds who had the night off and is stuck in second place at 39. He has 11 home runs and is batting .325 on the season, he is tied for the MLB lead in hits at 60 with old teammate Corey Dickerson. Blackmon is making his own case for team MVP in an ever-crowded field.
A solo home run from Parra in the sixth made it 8-1, Colorado. That would be the end of the scoring until Andrew Knapp took Chad Qualls deep in the ninth to make the final score 8-2.
Marquez did his job, spreading out the base runners and staying in the zone once he got the big lead.
His final line: 6 IP,7 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. It was the 15th quality start for a Rockies rookie pitcher already this season, the 19th overall.
On this road trip, the Rockies have 70 hits, 10 home runs, and have scored 54 runs over eight games.
Colorado moved to 30-17 on the season, 17-7 on the road, still have the best record in the National League with three more wins than anyone else. If the Rockies win one of their next two games, they will be 7-0-1 in road series. This is the fastest the Rockies have ever gotten to 30 wins, the first time they’ve done so in the month of May.
In franchise history, the years the Rockies have been 13 games over .500 at any point?: 2007, 2009, 2010. Tonight, you can add 2017.
