fans dutifully filled in the lyrics to ‘s walk-up song Saturday night, singing the stanza that ends with “to-niiiight” even after Colorado’s center fielder pulled a switcheroo. In honor of Dia de Los Rockies night, Blackmon played the 貹ñDZ cover instead of the British pub rock version.
The Rockies are in a groove, methodically marching toward October with everything rehearsed. Blackmon twice followed the crowd cues with game-altering hits Saturday in the Rockies’ 16-0 blowout of the Padres in front of a sellout crowd of 48,247. And he bolted into the National League record books.
It was the Rockies’ largest shutout victory in their history, surpassing a 13-0 victory exactly 10 years ago to the day that was the first of 21 wins in their final 22 games before the World Series.
“It seems like we’re kind of pulling it together,” Blackmon said. “But I wouldn’t put too much into (the score). A 1-0 win would have been just as good.”
Blackmon’s double in the second keyed a five-run, nine-batter inning against ex-Rox right-hander ; and his three-run homer to right field in the sixth led to a benches-clearing rhubarb. Colorado’s center fielder finished with four runs batted in, setting an NL record with 92 RBIs this season as a leadoff hitter, passing Craig Biggio’s mark of 88 from 1998.
He has settled atop the Rockies order as their best, most valuable hitter. Blackmon also collected his 81st and 82nd extra-base hits from the leadoff spot, another NL record, passing Jimmy Rollins’ mark with the Phillies from 2007.
“That’s cool,” Blackmon said.
And Colorado (82-67), having won 10 of its last 13 games, moved further ahead of the nearest NL wild-card competitors, 3 1/2 games ahead of the Brewers and 4 1/2 in front of the Cardinals. Both those teams lost Saturday.
Left-hander returned to the Rockies rotation for his first start since June 25, and in demanding fashion. He whipped through five no-hit innings and two more outs before Manuel Margot weakly dribbled an infield hit in front of the plate.
Boxscore:
In a backhanded way, it made Bud Black’s job easier. Colorado’s manager had set an indeterminate pitch limit on Anderson in his first start since arthroscopic knee surgery. But he lengthened the leash to let Anderson throw through a no-hit bid.
Anderson eventually made it through six innings on just two hits and no runs. He struck out three and walked two. He threw 73 pitches. He struck out Wil Myers on three pitches to finish the sixth. Anderson’s next start will not be so limited. Anderson is due to face these same Padres on Thursday in San Diego, a place he has never pitched.
Anderson said a no-hitter never entered his mind. The sixth inning, Black said, would have been his last regardless.
“We were scoring a lot of runs,” Anderson said. “I was trying to keep us in the game and keep going. Throwing quality strikes, staying out of the middle of the plate.”
smacked a moonshot two-run homer to the second deck in right field in the fifth and hit two other singles. hit a pinch-hit grand slam to left field in the seventh. And Jonathan Lucroy lined three singles and scored twice. And Nolan Arenado’s single in the second gave him 125 RBIs, making him the first Rockies player with three consecutive seasons with 125 or more RBIs. He is baseball’s first third baseman to do it.
And rookies Kyle Freeland and Jeff Hoffman combined for three innings of one-hit relief, capping a three-hit shutout with Anderson.
But the night belonged to Blackmon. Black on Friday forced Blackmon out of the lineup. Blackmon did not say so, but he was desperate for rest. With Arenado, he shares the club lead with 146 games played this year while patrolling the vast expanse of center field in LoDo.
Back atop the lineup, Blackmon banged a double off Lyles, a player who shared Colorado’s clubhouse over three seasons. In Lyles’ last start at Coors Field, on May 23, 2016, he gave up six runs in just 2 1/3 innings. Some 16 months later, he allowed seven runs in four innings. Blackmon’s double pushed along a second inning that included five other singles.
“I liked that home run on a breaking ball in his last at-bat. That was nice,” Black said of Blackmon’s night. “He had some good swings. We had a lot of guys with good swings.”
After Blackmon homered off Padres reliever Miguel Diaz in the sixth to extend Colorado’s lead to 10-0, Diaz found an issue. He pegged in the arm with a pitch, prompting LeMahieu to protest and the benches to clear. They never swung fists. But home-plate ump Gerry Davis ejected Diaz.
Blackmon did not hold a bat in the seventh inning, replaced instead by backups. His mark was already made. Blackmon is just the 11th player in baseball history to reach at least 130 runs, 35 home runs, 30 doubles and 10 triples in a season. Nine of those 11 players are in the Hall of Fame.
