Colorado Rockies: Nolan Arenado on his success against the San Francisco Giants

Colorado Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado is known for playing well against the San Francisco Giants and he has shown it again in this series.

Entering the Colorado Rockies‘ current series with the San Francisco Giants, third baseman Nolan Arenado was off to a cool start of the season. He was hitting .226/.286/.226 with no home runs, no extra-base hits, and only one RBI.

However, Arenado has played well in this current series against the Giants as he has 2 home runs and 4 RBI in the series. Those have brought his batting average up 17 points, his on-base percentage up 40 points, and his slugging percentage up 179 points.

With those two home runs, he now has 30 career home runs against the Giants, which surpassed Todd Helton for the Rockies record of home runs against the Giants (Helton had 29 against them).

According to the Rockies PR team, it is the fifth-highest home-run number for a Rockies player against a single opponent. Helton leads with 48 career home runs against the Dodgers.

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After Tuesday’s win against the Giants, Arenado spoke with the media, including Rox Pile, and he was asked about why he thinks he plays better against the Giants.

"“I don’t know,” said Arenado. “Coming up, when I was a rookie, the Giants were the team…They were so good and so elite. You knew that they were going to be there [in the playoff hunt]. When I first came up…it was daunting going in [to San Francisco]. We didn’t win a series [against them] forever. I don’t what it is but there’s always a motivation, it’s like going to LA now.“You’re able to get excited because the energy in San Fran, the energy in LA, it’s always super fun to play against them. And for some reason, our games against the Giants [at Coors Field] are always kind of crazy but I really don’t know [why I play better against them]. I’m just happy that I’m doing it and, hopefully, I can continue.”"

In his career, Arenado has faced the Giants more than any other team. In 128 games, he has 30 home runs, 103 RBI, 39 doubles, and a .297/.358/.562 slash line. His tOPS+ against the Giants is 105, meaning he has played five percent better against the Giants than his career averages. That number is the highest number against any NL West team.

The Rockies have already clinched a split, at bare minimum by winning the first two of the four-game series. They will look to cement their series win tonight at 6:40 PM MT. Jon Gray will go for the Rockies and opposing him will be right-handed pitcher Logan Webb.

Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry will be live at Coors Field tonight so be sure to check out our Twitter page for live coverage of the game.