Blackmon Roars Out Of Slump To Beat Marlins
DENVER (The Sports Xchange) - Charlie Blackmon came roaring out of a mild slump Saturday night with a season-high-tying four-hit game and four RBIs as the Colorado Rockies parlayed a seven-run sixth inning into a 12-6 pounding of the Miami Marlins.
Blackmon, hitless in 10 at-bats entering the game, finished a double shy of the cycle. The lopsided win did have a touch of history and drama in the final two innings when Ichiro Suzuki batted twice.
Pinch-hitting in the eighth, Suzuki chopped a bouncer and beat the long throw of third baseman Nolan Arenado for his 2,999th career hit. Jordan Lyles threw three straight balls to Ichiro, who fouled off two pitches before breaking an 0-for-11 drought with his single.
Suzuki stayed in the game and batted in the ninth against Scott Oberg, receiving a standing ovation as he stepped in the batters' box. Ichiro hit a high bouncer that Oberg jumped and grabbed. The ball slipped out of his glove and Oberg, who had walked the first batter in the inning ahead of Suzuki, slipped as he retrieved the ball and threw with a knee on the ground just in time to get him.
"I was trying to turn a double play on that, but once I bobbled it, I was just trying to get the out at first base," Oberg said.
Suzuki declined to speak to the media after the game. A Marlins public relations official said he didn't want to talk about any happy topic after the team lost.
Blackmon hit his 13th home run in the first. It was his sixth leadoff homer this season and the 19th of his career. Blackmon tripled and singled in the sixth, when the Rockies piled up seven of their 17 hits and sent 12 men to the plate.
The Rockies trailed 3-2 when they zeroed in on Andrew Cashner (4-8) in the sixth, driving him from the game after he gave up four straight hits and a walk to start the inning. Pinch-hitter Cristhian Adames, who had two plate appearances in the inning, singled and scored on Blackmon's game-tying triple. DJ LeMahieu lined a go-ahead single and scored on Carlos Gonzalez's double. Arenado walked on four pitches, ending Cashner's outing.
PHOTO GALLERY: Marlins 6, Rockies 12
David Dahl and Nick Hundley hit run-scoring singles, and Blackmon's bases-loaded single brought home the final two runs in the inning.
"They got a couple of key hits," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "The Dahl hit, he drives in a run. The two key hits after that were Hundley and Blackmon to polish that inning off. If we could have kept it three or four, you know in this ballpark you can do some things."
Blackmon came up in the seventh needing a double for the cycle but singled to left.
"I knew I wasn't very good the past couple games," he said. "And I know that doesn't last long, good or bad. So I tried not to overthink it. I actually tried to simplify it. I tried to do less, actually. Relax and just let it come."
The sixth-inning rally enabled Chad Bettis, who got 11 outs on ground balls, to end up the winning pitcher. Bettis (10-6) has made six straight quality starts and is 4-0 with a 3.32 ERA in that span. Because the Rockies bullpen was thin, Rockies manager Walt Weiss said Bettis' ability to take the mound for the sixth having thrown 99 pitches and complete that inning on seven pitches was vital.
Bettis gave up a triple and two singles to start the game as the Marlins pounced on him for two runs in the first. That was the extent of their damage against Bettis until the fifth, when Giancarlo Stanton hit his 23rd home run, a massive shot to left-center that went 504 feet, according to Statcast. It was the longest homer in the history of Coors Field, which opened in 1995.
"Solo shots never kill you, and I think that was an example tonight," Bettis said. "It was a really poor pitch to a guy that's really strong and he hits home runs really far."
The win was the 12th in 16 games for the Rockies, who are 15-7 since the All-Star break and three games behind the Marlins and Cardinals in the chase for the second wild-card spot. The Pirates and Mets are two games behind Miami and St. Louis.
"We got a long way to go," Weiss said. "We got a lot more games to win. But it's been nice seeing our guys fight their way back in the mix."
NOTES: Before the game, Rockies manager Walt Weiss was asked if he had any desire to see Ichiro Suzuki get a hit and maybe even reach 3,000 hits in this series. Not with the game on the line, Weiss said emphatically, before adding, "Hopefully we can get up 10, and he can get up again and shoot a single to left. I'm all for that." ... Rockies RF Carlos Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest in-season hitting streak of his career. ... Marlins LHP Hunter Cervenka will join the team Sunday after being acquired from Atlanta where he was 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA in 50 games. Miami sent two minor leaguers, INF Anfernee Seymour and LHP Michael Bader, to the Braves. ... Rockies RHP Adam Ottavino has a scoreless streak of 25 1/3 innings and hasn't allowed a run in 30 games since Sept. 6, 2014. He missed most of last season and the first half of this one following Tommy John surgery. ... When the Marlins scored four runs in the ninth Friday to win 5-3, it was the first time they scored four or more runs in the ninth inning or later to come from behind and win since Sept. 14, 2014 at Philadelphia when they scored four runs in the ninth to win 5-4.
