Colorado Rockies morning after: Montero’s mashes subdue San Francisco

Needing some kind of spark after enduring a five-game losing streak, the Colorado Rockies got a big jolt on Friday night from rookie Elehuris Montero.

Montero smacked two home runs, the first two of his career hit at Coors Field, and drove in five runs as the Colorado Rockies kicked off a five-game homestand with a 7-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

On Friday night, the Colorado Rockies put together solid performances at the plate and on the mound to defeat the San Francisco Giants

Serving as Colorado’s designated hitter, the 24-year-old Montero entered the game with one home run in his first 89 at-bats, that coming on August 6 in a 3-2 road win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. It was part of an August that had seen Montero post a .291/.316/.473 slash line in 15 games, a marked upswing in the amount of time Montero had seen in the lineup.

With time at third base, first base, and DH during the month, Montero is finding a groove and contributing in a big way.

“Honestly, it just feels amazing,” Montero said after the game about his two-homer night through the interpreter, bullpen catcher Aaron Muñoz. “It feels great. There are no words to describe it.”

While Montero was dominating at the plate, José Ureña was doing the same on the mound. In perhaps his best outing as a member of the Colorado rotation, Urena subdued the Giants as the Rockies built a 7-0 lead. Joc Pederson singled off Urena in the first and that would be the last San Francisco hit until the sixth inning when Pederson would launch an opposite-field home run just inside the left field foul pole to break up the shutout.

Ureña would give up just three hits and two walks in his 94-pitch performance, tying his season-high number of pitches.

“He needed to keep the ball down tonight, which he did to produce the grounders,” said Colorado manager Bud Black, who noted Ureña’s 11 groundouts on the night. “Pitches were down, with the fastball with some sink, a slider, and a changeup. That’s José Ureña, what you saw tonight, and that was good.”

Connor Joe went 2-for-3, marking his first multi-hit game since July 15 and hitting his first home run since June 7 (also against the Giants) and Daniel Bard nailed down his 25th save by striking out the side to end the contest.

Colorado and San Francisco continue their series on Saturday night with Ryan Feltner (2-4, 6.39) going against Alex Cobb (4-6, 3.99 ERA) for the Giants.