There’s no wrong time to hit a home run in a Major League Baseball game, but Charlie Blackmon and Mark Reynolds picked just about the best times possible to go deep against the Washington Nationals in Monday night’s series opener. Reynolds, who leads the Rockies’ in-house triple crown race, and Blackmon, who now has a nine-game hitting streak, struck when it mattered most to help deliver an 8-4 win.
“Collectively, just a huge ‘Yeah,'” Bud Black said of the response to Blackmon’s go-ahead two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. “Man, it was great.”
The hit was Blackmon’s only one of the night, but he couldn’t have timed it better. Colorado trailed 3-4 at the time to a red-hot Nationals team that had won seven games in a row, including six in a row on the road.
“You know, I thought Charlie, even though he didn’t have any hits [to that point], he had some good swings all night,” Black continued on to say about his leadoff hitter. “So, I’m not going to say it was just a matter of time, but he had good at-bats.”
Blackmon also drove in a run in the three-run eighth inning, tying him Mark Reynolds for the team lead with 18 RBIs on the year. And while Blackmon’s home run in the seventh gave Colorado the lead, Reynolds’ shot in the sixth gave them life.
Colorado trailed 4-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning after Tyler Anderson surrendered all four of Washington’s runs in the top half of the frame. Reynolds, as he’s done all year for the Rockies, came up big.
With two out and Nolan Arenado on third base after a triple, Reynolds sent a 93-mph Jacob Turner fastball into the left field bleachers at Coors Field. It was Reynolds’ sixth home run of the year, tying him with Blackmon and Arenado for the team lead.
“I mean it was a huge hit, Mark’s,” Black said postgame. We’re down 4-1, you know, the momentum had swung their way, and, you know, Mark with a big knock.”
Another single in the eighth raised Reynolds’ average to a team-high .329 among full-time starters. His 23 hits are second only to Nolan Arenado’s 24.
It’s been a pleasant surprise for the Rockies and Reynolds, who came into Spring Training on a minor league deal after Colorado signed Ian Desmond in the offseason to play first base. Desmond has missed the first 20 games of the season with a broken hand suffered in a Cactus League game, but took batting practice on the field for the first time this season ahead of Monday’s game against the Nationals.
Black will have a tough decision to make with Desmond’s return, as Reynolds is off to one of the best all-around offensive starts in baseball so far this year. In the meantime, he can continue to let his hot bats, Blackmon and Reynolds, stay hot as the Rockies try and improve on their NL-best 14-6 record.
Colorado faces Washington in the second game of their four-game series on Tuesday night.