Nolan Arenado Powers Rockies to Win with 7 RBI

Nolan Arenado said that he felt he was just missing on some pitches through the Colorado Rockies’ first seven games. His swing corrected itself in Game 8.

Arenado blasted two homers and notched a career-high seven RBI as the Rockies shook off their short offensive slump by logging a 10-6 decision over the San Francisco Giants before 21,891 fans at Coors Field on Wednesday night.

“I know I can play at this level and I’ve always had confidence in myself. It’s never fun to scuffle or not produce for your team,” said Arenado, who had his sixth career multi-homer game and just missed tying the Colorado franchise mark for RBI (eight). “Today was a great day and I had some opportunities with guys on base thanks to Story and CarGo (Carlos Gonzalez) and Charlie (Blackmon) having quality at-bats.”

Arenado now has 45 RBI against the Giants since 2013, by far the most he has against any MLB club in that span.

One night after totaling just seven singles against San Francisco’s Jeff Samardzija, Colorado tied a franchise record with 12 extra-base hits. Included in that number was a franchise-record four triples, including two by rookie shortstop Trevor Story that bounced off the newly installed fence in right-center field. The fence kept both hits in play and prevented Story from upping his MLB-leading seven home runs on the season.

“Just because they hit the fences that weren’t normally there, I got a lot of grief,” a smiling Story said after the game. “I wasn’t too frustrated. We made the changes (with the fences) so we’ll live with them. I’m happy any time I hit the ball hard.”

Arenado said he was one of the players giving Story grief following his two triples.

“I told him some things I probably shouldn’t say because the owner might get mad at me,” Arenado laughed.

Colorado sent a message of the offensive night ahead in the first inning, with Charlie Blackmon leading off with a triple and Story bringing him home with a sacrifice fly. Gonzalez would follow with a triple and Arenado would plate him with a groundout to give the Rockies a quick 2-0 lead.

Colorado starter Jordan Lyles allowed five runs in 4.2 innings of work. Chris Rusin would be the hero out of the Rockies bullpen on the night, quieting the San Francisco offense in his 2.1 frames on the mound on his way to earning the victory. Rusin struck out three and didn’t allow a hit.

“It’s always good for a reliever to come in and stop the momentum for the other team and throw up zeroes,” Rusin said. “All we have to do is keep our offense in the game because they can put up runs just like that.”

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Notes

⇒ Wednesday night was the third time that Nolan Arenado has hit multiple homers in a game against the Giants. The other two came within two days of each other last year in San Francisco.

⇒ DJ LeMahieu went 1-for-2 with three walks and extended his hitting streak to eight games to begin the season. He’s batting .464 during the streak.

⇒ Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. He has also hit in eight straight games to start the season. Dating back to last season, CarGo has hit safely in 18 straight games, the longest streak of his career.