Colorado Rockies: 3 things to really like from Phillies series win

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DENVER, COLORADO – APRIL 25: Trevor Story #27 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates after hitting a grand slam home run against the Philadelphia Phillies in the fourth inning at Coors Field on April 25, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Trevor Story back into the building!

After hitting the Colorado Rockies shortstop hit first home run of the season in the series opener on Friday night, Story followed with a grand slam during a seven-run fourth inning to help propel the Rockies to a 12-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Coors Field in the deciding contest of the three-game series between the two teams.

The series win was the second straight for Colorado (8-13) following the team’s eight-game, 10-day homestand that concluded Sunday after the Rockies had taken both contests of a two-game set against the Houston Astros.

The last time that Colorado captured back-to-back series was August of a year ago when the team was victorious in a four-game home series with San Francisco before besting Seattle in a three-game road series.

Those back-to-back series wins in 2020 were a part of five consecutive series that Colorado won in racing to an 11-3 start to open the campaign before dropping 13 of its next 15 contests on the way to a 26-34 final record.

With Sunday’s win, the Rockies ended the homestand with a 5-3 mark and a winning home record for April by going 8-7.

The 12 runs scored by Colorado, a season-high, were the most for the club since a 12-2 road shellacking of the Cincinnati Reds on July 26, 2019, and the most at Coors Field since erupting for 13 runs June 26, 2019, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The seven-run, fourth-inning outburst on Sunday marked the first time the Rockies scored at least seven runs in an inning, in which it was the first inning they had scored, since May of 2017.

The Rockies opponent in that game—the Phillies!

Yes. There were a lot of positives for the Rox in the series win against the Phillies (10-11).

Let’s take a look at three things, in particular, for Rox fans to really like from the series.

DENVER, CO – APRIL 2: C.J. Cron #25 of the Colorado Rockies walks off the field after the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on April 2, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /

1. Re-emergence of the long ball by Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.

Following his grand slam on Sunday, the third of his career, Story now has two home runs on the season with both round trippers coming against the Phillies.

His first home run of the season in the team’s come-from-behind 5-4 victory Friday night snapped the longest homerless streak of his career at 29 games, dating back to September of 2020.

With two hits in four at-bats Sunday, Story concluded the series with Philadelphia 5-for-11 at the plate (.455) with his two homers, a double, and six runs batted in.

For the homestand, he was 10-for-27 (.370) with two homers, three doubles, nine RBIs, and six runs scored.

His batting average now stands at .299 after hitting a meager .185 with just one RBI and one extra-base hit after six games this season.

2. C.J. Cron sees results at the plate.

Like Story, Cron is another Rockies player who had a tremendously slow start to the season but perhaps has turned his fortunes around with his performance against the Phillies.

On Sunday, Cron had his first four-hit game since May 23, 2019, when he was with the Minnesota Twins, with a 4-for-5 day including a two-run home run in the eighth inning.

Over his last 10 games, he is now hitting .371 (13-for-35) with a pair of doubles, three home runs, and 10 RBIs. One of the games during that span was a five-RBI night Tuesday during this homestand when he swatted his first homer of the year against the Houston Astros.

For the season, Cron is now batting .266 after seeing his average below .200 (.189) after the team’s winless six-game road swing earlier this season.

DENVER, CO – APRIL 2: Ben Bowden #51 of the Colorado Rockies delivers to home plate during the sixth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on April 2, 2021 in Denver, Colorado. Bowden is making his Major League debut. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) /

3. More consistent performances from the Rox bullpen.

While Colorado hasn’t worked out all the woes with its bullpen, the relief corps did post some solid outings with the Phillies when it was needed in order to get the series win.

Ben Bowden, Carlos Estevez and Mychal Givens shut down Philadelphia in the final innings Friday night as Colorado rallied in the series opener to win on Raimel Tapia’s walk-off ninth-inning homer.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, Estevez, Robert Stephenson, and Jordan Sheffield combined to blank the Phillies over the final three innings to close out the game following Jon Gray’s solid six innings on the mound.

Sheffield has now not been scored on in his first six MLB career appearances, allowing just two hits with three strikeouts and no walks.

The Rox bullpen did give up five runs in the series on the strength of two Philadelphia swings of the bat—a two-run homer surrendered by Yency Almonte on Friday and a three-run home run given up by Jhoulys Chacin in the Rox loss on Saturday night.

So, there certainly is room for improvement for Rockies relievers but some of them have taken a step in the right direction.

After the successful homestand, Colorado embarks on its second road trip of the season — a seven-game journey to San Francisco (three games) and Arizona (four games).

Next. Will the Rockies move Charlie Blackmon down in the lineup?. dark

The road trip begins at 7:45 p.m. (Mountain time) Monday against the Giants. Austin Gomber (1-2) is slated to start for the Rockies.

After the 0-6 mark on the team’s initial road journey this season, Colorado stands as the only team in the Majors without a win away from home.

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Colorado Rockies: 3 things to really like from Phillies series win

1. Re-emergence of the long ball by Rockies shortstop Trevor Story.

2. C.J. Cron sees results at the plate.

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3. More consistent performances from the Rox bullpen.

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