There are stats, and then there are STATS.
Try wrapping your head around the following:
In the third inning of the Rockies’ 5-3 victory over the Dodgers Saturday night at , Colorado right fielder hit a two-out, 2-2, two-run homer to right field off of a Clayton Kershaw curveball. According to Inside Edge Data and Analytics, Blackmon became the first left-handed batter to hit a home run off a Kershaw curveball in a regular-season game. Ever.
The only other left-handed hitter who has homered on a curve from Kershaw was St. Louis’ Matt Adams in Game 4 of the 2014 National League division series.
Saturday, for those counting, marked the 330th regular-season start of Kershaw’s Hall of Fame career.
“No way!” was the initial reaction of Rockies manager Bud Black when informed of therare gem of a stat.
Then: “Wow!”
“I think it speaks volumes to both guys,” Black continued. “Charlie was the one to finally do it. And for Clayton, to go this long, to not give up a homer to a lefty (on a curveball), is so impressive. I would never have thought that. That just shows the quality of his curveball, for all of the years that he’s been pitching. That’s something.”
Blackmon was as skeptical of the stat as Black.
“Thatap interesting … Are you sure?” Blackmon said. “He doesn’t throw a lot of curveballs, so thatap part of it. I guess.”
Then Blackmon paused before deadpanning: “I guess it doesn’t count. You’ve gotta do it twice, or it doesn’t count.”
The two-run homer was Blackmon’s 19th of the season and the third of his career off Kershaw. Was Blackmon sitting on a 2-2 curveball?
“Not really. Two strikes, I just shortened up, trying not to strike out,” he said. “I saw that one pretty good. I saw one earlier in the game that I did not see great. I put a good swing on it, got it with the barrel. I didn’t crush it, but it was just enough.”
Kershaw was not happy with the pitch selection.
“The Blackmon homer was a tough pill to swallow,” “It was the wrong pitch. I shook to it. You take responsibility for that. That was the last thing Barnesy (catcher Austin Barnes) called. I should have listened to him. But I felt confident about the curveball there and it was a good one. He hit it well. It was obviously the wrong pitch to throw.”
