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Colorado Rockies Ride Big Offense To Win Kyle Kendrick’s Final Start

By Bobby DeMuro

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Jun 28, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies third baseman N. Arenado (28) before playing against the San Francisco Giants in the Rockies dugout at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies kicked off the final series of the year Friday night with the final night game of the year, a chilly affair at AT&T Park against the San Francisco Giants.

108. Final. 3. 40. 9

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The Colorado Rockies exploded for nine runs on nine hits, including a home run and a double from their star MVP candidate third baseman, and ended up coasting to a 9-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night in San Francisco at AT&T Park.

The Rockies started everything off in the top of the second inning, when Nolan Arenado slugged a solo home run to left field off Giants’ starter Chris Heston. The homer — Arenado’s 42nd of the season — put him back in the lead, as least temporarily, in the National League’s home run chase.

The Giants got that run right back in the bottom of the second inning, though, when Jarrett Parker doubled off Rockies’ starter Kyle Kendrick to score Brandon Crawford. However, for Kendrick, it’d be the final run he allowed in 2015, as he closed the season nearly as strongly as he had opened it in Milwaukee.

It’s just… well, it’s just those middle 25 starts (!) that were the problem:

Anyways…

The Rockies broke the 1-1 tie in the top of the third inning with five runs, all off the bats of their star hitters. Carls Gonzalez kicked things off with an RBI single, after which Arenado slugged a two-run double. The fun was capped with Corey Dickerson‘s two-run home run, and when the dust settled, the Rockies were ahead 6-1 and Heston was reeling.

The Rockies would keep adding to the lead, though, as a two-run double from Jose Reyes in the top of the fourth inning made it an 8-1 game. And then, for good measure, Dickerson scored on a wild pitch from the hand of Giants’ reliever Yusmeiro Petit in the top of the fifth inning.

Kendrick ended up going six innings, and in addition to a strong day at the plate (1-for-2 with a walk and two runs scored), he only allowed one run on five hits and a walk while striking out six batters in his final start of 2015.

The bullpen finished things off for the Rockies, with the only blemish coming in the bottom of the eighth when the Giants put up two runs on Crawford’s double to make the game 9-3. But, John Axford closed things out in the ninth inning and the Rockies won game one of the series.

The Rockies and Giants will meet again Saturday afternoon at 2:05 pm MT for the second game of the weekend series.

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