Walk-up Rockies fans on Saturday afternoon found an odd sight — Bud Black scanning their credit cards and tearing off receipts in the Coors Field ticket booth. Colorado’s first-year manager has his hands all over a club turnaround. He even sells seats.
Black can afford the time for small chat. Inside the gates, his team is playing on cruise control. The Rockies streaked past the San Francisco Giants again Saturday night, this time a 12-3 blowout behind home runs from Mark Reynolds, Trevor Story and Charlie Blackmon.
“That’s more like it,” Black said of his team’s suddenly surging offense.
Their victory — a fifth win in six games — guaranteed consecutive series wins over the Giants to start a season for the first time since 2002. Colorado (12-6) is tied for the most wins in baseball.
But they sprinted to the top of the National League West with sparse hitting and a shutdown bullpen. That mode is beginning to flip. They pounded new Giants pitcher Matt Moore for nine hits, six runs and three homers in his four brief innings on the mound.
The Rockies’ 14 hits were a season-high — and half of them went for extra bases, with three home runs, a triple and three doubles.
“It’s a long season, but we feel good about where we’re at right now,” Black said. “We even lead the NL in double plays on defense.”
BOXSCORE: Rockies 12, Giants 3
Blackmon’s leadoff triple seemed almost a relief. His inside-the-park home run Friday helped bury a Giants team still reeling from the loss of Madison Bumgarner to a shoulder sprain from an off-day dirt-bike crash in Colorado. Stopping Blackmon at third base was a minor victory.
“I’ve been doing a lot of running,” Blackmon said. His fifth home run this season extended a hit streak to seven games. “It’s way better to hit it over the fence than to clank it around the corner.”
Nolan Arenado, though, quickly singled him home and Reynolds followed with a two-run rocket to left field that flew 433 feet. A rout was on.
In the fourth, they rounded the bases again, with solo homers from Blackmon and Story and an RBI double from catcher Dustin Garneau. Four of Story’s past five hits have been home runs, the other was a double.
And while the Giants started an outfield trio Saturday hitting a combined .150 with one home run, the Rox are quickly getting a hitting groove back.
“Our offense isn’t where it’s going to be,” Black said. “Wherever we are statistically in the league for hitting, that will climb.”
If this is a struggling Rockies offense, it is working. They are 8-3 against the giants of the West: 5-1 against the actual Giants and 3-2 with the Dodgers.
Their sudden swatting surge Saturday was well-timed. Antonio Senzatela, a 22-year-old right-hander who never pitched above Double-A before this season, never flinched with an early lead. He blew through seven innings on just four hits and one run, a solo homer to Joe Panik in the sixth. Senzatela struck out three and made the Giants earn hits, with no walks.
Colorado’s bullpen — the primary reason for the Rockies’ early-season streaking, Blackmon said — flashed an anxious inning for the first time this season. They needed three relievers to finish the eighth, but not until the Giants scored twice on consecutive two-out run-scoring hits from Brandon Belt and Panik off right-hander Mike Dunn.
Carlos Estevez struck out Brandon Crawford to end the eighth. The Rockies hit around their order in a six-run bottom half, with two more hits and two more RBIs from Reynolds.
The 39,239 fans at Coors Field included at least a handful who were upsold by the Rockies manager. But Black’s sales pitch is on the field. The Rockies continue to win and now they are finally slugging.
“We had some triples and doubles and some homers and some timely hitting, some good swings, we took walks,” he said. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
