The unofficial start to summer got rolling with a bang on Friday night. The Colorado Rockies exploded for eight runs in the ninth inning in a 10-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field to open the Memorial Day weekend in Denver. The Rockies remain atop the National League with the win, while Charlie Blackmon padded several of his NL-leading stats. Rookie right-hander Antonio Senzatela slid to the top of a NL leaderboard as well.
Senzatela pitched eight innings of four-hit baseball, facing just one batter over the minimum thanks in part to the four double plays he induced. Other thanks are due Nolan Arenado, who flashed some serious leather on the night. His snare of a Yadier Molina one-hop rocket in the eighth inning, followed by his second double-play turned, likely stole a run or two from the Cardinals. Senzatela struck out three and allowed five hits and no walks to earn his seventh win of the year, tying him with Clayton Kershaw for the NL lead. Jordan Lyles pitched a clean ninth, his 14th appearance of the year. The win came despite 7.1 strong innings from Carlos Martinez, who struck out nine Rockies and allowed three runs on six hits.
Blackmon added to his MLB-leading RBI total when he drove in Tony Wolters in the third inning with a triple – his seventh, also the best in baseball. He gave Colorado an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a moon shot into the right field bleachers. It was Blackmon’s 12th on the season, which tied him with Mark Reynolds for the team lead. Reynolds wouldn’t allow that to happen, though. Reynolds drove in Arenado twice on the night; once with a singe line the fourth, and then with a two-run home run in the eighth for his 13th of the year. Arenado had a pair of hits and an RBI to go along with his two runs scored. Colorado batted around in the eighth en route to eight runs against three Cardinals pitchers. Fittingly, Charlie Blackmon drove in Colorado’s final run of the inning with an RBI single. He was 4-for-4 on the night and a double shy of the cycle heading into the at-bat.
Colorado improved its NL-best record to 32-18. It was the ninth time this season Colorado wrapped a pair of wins around a loss, following Wednesday’s win and Thursday’s loss in Philadelphia. The Rockies and Cardinals continue their three-game series on Saturday night. Kyle Freeland is on the mound for Colorado seeking his sixth win. He faces Adam Wainwright, who is 4-3.