The feast or famine Rockies went on a feeding frenzy Friday night at Coors Field.
After getting swept at San Diego, where they scored one run over three games (28 innings), the Rockies went off against Arizona, cruising to a 7-1 victory and halting their five-game losing skid. Ryan McMahon hit two long home runs and Raimel Tapia added another monster shot. All told, the three homers measured 1,323 feet.
McMahon said he made it a point during batting practice to ” have fun,” hoping it would rub off on his teammates.
“We were loose and relaxed, we are out there dancing around,” McMahon said. Referring to the San Diego series he added, “That’s the past. It had nothing to do with today.”
The Rockies had a pre-game hitters’ meeting and manager Bud Black was encouraged by his team’s offense.
“‘RyMac’ had two great swings and ‘Tap’ had a good swing,” Black said. “I thought our offensive approach was good throughout the game.”
Starter German Marquez, who’s had his own Jekyll-and-Hyde season, pitched like the good doctor Friday night against the slumping Diamondbacks, who lost for the sixth consecutive time and fell for the ninth time in their last 11 games.
“I’m getting close,” Marquez said when asked if he’s nearing the form that Black believes can make him one of the best pitchers in the National League. “I felt good but I wasn’t at my best tonight … I thought my slider was sharp.”
“He was a little rocky early, But I thought he really righted the ship in innings four, five and sixth,” Black said. “I thought those were his best innings, as far as efficiency and locating pitches. And I though he held his stuff all the way through the seven inning.”
The Rockies, a miserable 2-17 on the road, are a very different team at Coors, where they improved to 14-12.
Marquez struck out eight over seven scoreless innings, was tagged for just four hits and walked three. He trimmed his ERA from 5.56 to 4.82.
Arizona avoided being shut out by scoring a run in the eighth off right-hander Jordan Sheffield. Consecutive one-out singles by Pavin Smith, Eduardo Escobar and David Peralta loaded the bases with one out, but Sheffield avoided the dreaded eight-inning meltdown that has plagued the Rockies this season. Josh Rojas delivered a sacrifice fly to score a run but Sheffield got Josh Reddick to fly out to deep right to end the rally.
Yency Almonte pitched a spotless ninth to finish off the D-Backs.
Colorado scored three runs in the first off rookie right-hander Seth Frankoff. A two-out single by Charlie Blackmon, a wild pitch, an RBI single by C.J. Cron and McMahon’s 424-foot, two-run homer gave the Rockies all the offense they would need.
McMahon’s homer, his 10th, was a 424-foot liner into the left-center field seats. He was just getting warmed up. McMahon sent a solo homer into orbit in the fifth off Riley Smith. The blast to center traveled 457 feet.
Tapia’s two-run homer in the second inning off of Frankoff extended Colorado’s lead to 5-0. Tapia’s homer, his fifth this season, landed in the second deck above right field and measured 442 feet — the longest homer of his career.
