Colorado Rockies morning after: 3 things to like from sweep of the Padres

Story had a pair of doubles and drove in two runs, including one in the first inning to give him 400 RBIs for his career. The All-Star shortstop also collected a pair of walks and stole two bases. Story drew a base on balls and then stole second base to lead off the ninth inning, setting the stage for Blackmon’s game-winner.

Raimel Tapia and Elias Diaz notched three hits apiece with Diaz blasting a solo home run, his second of the season, as part of a three-run fourth inning off San Diego starting pitcher Blake Snell.

But lost in the shuffle of all the offensive fireworks Wednesday was a key two-inning hitless relief stint by Colorado’s Tyler Kinley.

After the Rockies had rallied to take a 7-5 lead only to see the lead dwindle to just one run after the Padres tallied in the sixth inning, Kinley came out of the bullpen to shut the door on the high-flying Padres offense by retiring the side in order in both the seventh and eighth innings.

"“That was sort of an underrated part of the game today was his two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth,” Black told media, including Rox Pile, about the outing for Kinley, who was awarded the game’s “MVP Award” by the team following the contest. “Big innings … so there it is in the seventh and eighth inning, in a game that looked like there was a lot of runs to be scored, he held them right there with two zeros. That was big. That was big for Tyler to get us to Carlos (Estevez). Very important today.”"

Kinley, who fanned one while throwing 14 of his 17 pitches for strikes, handed the ball over in the ninth inning to Estevez, who allowed a game-tying run (it was unearned) that led to the dramatic finish.

CJ Cron slammed a two-run homer, his seventh of the year, in the first inning to help stake the Rockies to a 3-0 lead. Brendan Rogers and Yonathan Daza each plated a run in a balanced Colorado offense.