Colorado Rockies Bats Wake Up, Destroy Cincinnati Reds On Sunday
By Bobby DeMuro
Jul 26, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies right fielder
Carlos Gonzalez(5) hits a home run during the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds met for the final game in their three-game set at Denver’s Coors Field on Sunday afternoon.
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The Colorado Rockies scored ten runs in the third inning, the club hit five home runs — including two from both Ben Paulsen and Carlos Gonzalez — and defeated the Cincinnati Reds in a weird Sunday getaway day blowout game 17-7 at Coors Field.
The Rockies got on board immediately in the bottom of the first inning, when Ben Paulsen hit a two-RBI triple into the right center field gap to score DJ LeMahieu and Carlos Gonzalez. The runs gave Rockies’ starter Kyle Kendrick a 2-0 lead, but there’d be plenty more where that came from for the Rockies.
The Reds got one back in the top of the second inning when their starting pitcher, Michael Lorenzen, hit an RBI single and made the game 2-1.
Things were looking bad for the Rockies after the top of the third, too, when the Reds pushed across three more runs on a three-run homer from Jay Bruce. A 4-2 Reds’ lead off struggling starter Kendrick looked bad at that point for the Rox in Coors Field.
But… the Rockies responded with a ten-run inning int he bottom of the third. Nolan Arenado, Paulsen, and Gonzalez all hit home runs in the inning, Daniel Descalso hit an RBI triple, LeMahieu sluged a two-RBI double, and the Rockies batted around for even more off Lorenzen, and then, off reliever Dylan Axelrod.
When the dust settled in the third, the Rockies took a commanding 12-4 lead and gave Kendrick more than enough breathing room for a win.
The Rockies added another run in the fourth inning when Paulsen homered (again) to right-center field, making it 13-4.
The Reds then added two more runs in the top of the fifth off Kendrick, thanks to an RBI double from Bruce and then a single scoring him by Eugenio Suarez, but at 13-6 after four and a half innings, Kendrick became the pitcher of record in line for the win in an ugly but worthwhile start.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, off Axelrod, the Rockies again added more runs when Gonzalez hit his second home run of the game, a three-run blast to the second deck in right field, and the Rockies took a ten-run lead to that point, 16-6.
Already by the fifth inning, Brandon Barnes was the only Rockie without a hit — and, with a single in the inning, Paulsen was just a double short of the cycle.
Paulsen never got his cycle, but after one more Rockies’ run — scored by Drew Stubbs who went 2-for-2 after pinch hitting in the 6th inning — and one more Reds’ run in the ninth against Boone Logan, the Rox won the blowout game 17-7.
Kendrick got the win — his fourth of the year — despite allowing 6 runs in five innings, giving up seven hits and three walks while striking out three hitters.
The Rockies now find themselves headed out on a seven-game Midwestern road trip, facing the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals over the next week beginning Monday night at 6:05 pm MT in Chicago’s Wrigley Field.