



The Blake Street Bombers were reincarnated Tuesday night in our Nation’s Capital
The Rockies blasted seven home runs, tying a franchise record, en route to a 10-6 victory over Washington at Nationals Park. For just the second time this season, the Rockies won three games in a row.
“Going into this season, I felt like with the lineup that we had a bunch of sluggers that could really drive the ball out of the park,” first baseman Michael Toglia told Rockies.TV after hitting two homers. “It was nice to see it come to fruition (tonight).”Colorado’s failure to launch had been one of its biggest shortcomings in a season when it owns a 16-57 record and is on pace to win just 36 games. The Rockies entered the game with 65 homers, the sixth-fewest in the majors, but they teed off against a Nationals team that lost its 10th straight and has dropped 13 of 15 games in June.
“Anything can happen on any given night in this game,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer told reporters. “We are not necessarily a home run-hitting team. I know we are the Colorado Rockies, but the numbers will show that we are not really a home run-hitting team. But tonight was a good approach, good plan. We executed it well.”
Tuesday marked the third time in franchise history the Rockies hit seven homers in a game, the second time on the road. The last time they did it away from the Mile-High City? April 5, 1997, in Montreal, by the aforementioned ‘Bombers.
Tuesday’s tale of the tape:
• Thairo Estrada hit his first homer as a Rockie, mashing a solo shot in the second inning. He left the game later after getting hit in the right wrist by a pitch. The Rockies called the injury a contusion and said the second baseman is day to day.
• Toglia launched his first two homers since rejoining the team after an 11-game stint at Triple-A. He hit a two-run homer in the second and a solo shot in Colorado’s six-run seventh, an inning in which the Rockies hit four over the wall.
• Hunter Goodman crushed a three-run shot in the seventh after striking out in his first three at-bats.
• Ryan McMahon followed up Goodman’s homer with a solo blast.
• Sam Hilliard’s solo homer was the final one of the night, and also the longest. His 434-foot shot reached the second deck in right field.
All told, the Rockies’ homers measured 2,406 feet. Combined with their three homers in their 6-4 victory over the Nationals on Monday night, the Rockies totaled 10 home runs in back-to-back games for the first time in franchise history.
Colorado also hit seven home runs in a game at Coors on May 31, 2016, vs. Cincinnati, but the Home Run Derby in Montreal more than 28 years ago was the stuff of legend. Hall of Famer Larry Walker hit three in that game, and Dante Bichette, Andres Galarraga, Vinny Castilla, and Ellis Burks all hit solo homers.
But the 2016 cast was not too shabby: Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado each hit two, and DJ LeMahieu, Gerardo Para, and Carlos Gonzalez each hit one.
Goodman now leads the current Rockies with 14 homers and 46 RBIs and is looking more and more like an All-Star. But perhaps the most encouraging development is Toglia’s at-bats in his two games since coming back from the minors.
“It’s great to see the way he’s playing and see immediate production,” Schaeffer said. “I’m happy for him and happy for the team.”
Goodman is simply sizzling.
He hit two home runs Monday night and has now launched 11 of his 14 homers on the road, tying Wilin Rosario for the most homers by a Rockies catcher on the road in a single season.
Rosario hit 11 in 2013. Goodman leads all major league catchers in hits (77) and triples (three), while leading all National League catchers in home runs, doubles (16), RBIs (43), extra-base hits (33), and total bases (141).
“That was a big three-run homer tonight for ‘Goody’,” Schaeffer said. “I’m so happy for him. He’s stacking good games on top of each other and taking the front-line catcher job by storm.”
Eclipsed by the home run barrage was a quality start by Antonio Senzatela.
The right-hander has always been a pitch-to-contact pitcher. That formula has killed him this season because he’s left too many meatballs on the plate.
He entered Tuesday’s game having given a big-league most 110 hits, and with a .372 average against him.
But Senzatela was much sharper against the Nationals, inducing nine groundball outs over his five innings.
The veteran right-hander gave up one unearned run and just three hits. He did walk three, but was able to deal with the traffic.
Washington’s only run off Senzatela came in the first inning when center fielder Brenton Doyle dropped Luis Garcia Jr.’s fly to center, allowing Garcia to sprint to third. Garcia scored on Senzatella’s wild pitch.
The only blemish on the Rockies’ victory was the five runs Washington scored in the last two innings to make the game closer than it should have been. Seldom-used right-hander Anthony Molina was tagged for all five runs, on six hits, including two home runs, in 1 2/3 innings.