Charlie Blackmon, who’s come to resemble Paul Bunyan, albeit with an ’80s-style mullet, is building a nice legend for himself in LoDo.
The Rockies’ center fielder crushed a two-run, seventh-inning homer into the second deck above right field Monday night, propelling his team to an 8-4, comeback win over Washington.
The Rockies improved to 14-6, tied for their second-best record after 20 games in franchise history. Colorado opened 15-5 in 1997 and 14-6 in 2011.
“I felt like we were still in the game the whole time. It was just a matter of time,” Blackmon said. “And then we caught up and then took the lead. It’s just kind of how I thought it was going to go, you just didn’t know who it was going to be.”
It turned out to be Blackmon, who drove a 1-0, 87 mph slider off left-handed reliever Enny Romero 417 feet to put Colorado in front 5-4.
“Right when he hit the homer, the dugout, collectively, just let out a huge ‘yeah!’ ” manager Bud Black said. “Just a huge one. It was a great. A great swing. He squared it up.”
Blackmon was eager for the chance, but he didn’t psych himself out.
“I felt like I was very calm and in control of the situation. So I felt like a normal hitter in that at-bat,” said Blackmon, who now has six homers from the leadoff spot. “I’m thinking a hit drives that run in. And one run right there would be a big run. And that’s not a guy where I go up against and swing for extra bases. He has really good stuff.
“He just made a bad pitch. The first pitch was a really good one. And the next one was not so good. And where he missed is where I hit balls real far. I wasn’t necessarily trying to swing hard. It was just the product of good contact.”
The Rockies tagged on three more runs in the eighth on five consecutive singles and a RBI groundout by Blackmon to ice the game.
Blackmon, sluggish to open the season, has batted 6-for-16 over his last four games, with three homers, two triples and nine RBIs.
BOXSCORE: Rockies 8, Nationals 4
The powerful Nationals,13-6, saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end.
Colorado’s bullpen, which now sports a 6-0 record and a National League-best 2.62 ERA, pitched 3 ⅓ scoreless innings behind Carlos Estevez, Adam Ottavino and closer Greg Holland.
Asked about the dependability of the bullpen so far this season, Ottavino gave a heartfelt answer: “We take pride in that. We’ve been a weakness on the team for a couple of years. This year, we really don’t want to be like that.
“We want to be a strength of the team. We take that to heart. I know I do. I’ve been here for too many losing years; too many years where the bullpen felt like we were letting everybody down. It’s nice to be on the other side of that.”
A post-home run pose told the story of Colorado starter Tyler Anderson‘s night. The Rockies’ left-hander bent over, his hands on his hips, revealing a small moment of anguish after Ryan Zimmerman’s two-run homer sneaked over the center-field wall to give the Nationals a 4-1 lead in the sixth.
The Nationals, who barely touched Anderson for the first five innings, finally figured him out in their four-run sixth. They hit for the cycle, beginning with a one-out double by Trea Turner, an RBI triple by Adam Eaton and an RBI single by Anthony Rendon.
Anderson was in complete command through the first five innings, striking out five and walking only one, baffling Nationals hitters with well-located fastballs and an effective changeup.
“His changeup was beautiful,” catcher Tony Wolters said. “That’s his changeup. It’s back. His tempo out there, his confidence, it was there. So I am proud of him. He just needs to execute a few more pitches.”
Said Anderson: “I just wanted to mix pitches a lot and keep guys off balance. I did some good things tonight, except for that sixth inning when they hit some mistakes. The most important thing is we came away with a win. That hadn’t happened my last three starts.”
Black was encouraged by Anderson’s performance — minus the sixth inning.
“That was probably, for me, the best that I’ve seen Tyler string pitches together,” Black said. “Just the combination of the fastball, slider, change, was really effective tonight.”
Colorado cut Washington’s lead to 4-3 in the bottom half of the sixth, utilizing their best early-season, one-two punch. Nolan Arenado chugged out a triple to center and scored on Mark Reynolds‘ homer to left off starter Jacob Turner. It was Reynolds’ sixth homer and team-leading 18th RBI.
The Rockies eked out a run in the second off Turner. Carlos Gonzalez‘s single off the glove of second baseman Daniel Murphy started the mini-rally, followed by a two-out bloop single to left by Trevor Story and a single by Tony Wolters to score Gonzalez.
It was a terrific piece of hitting by Wolters, who worked a full count off Turner and then steered the ball the opposite way to left field. Wolters is hitting .351 in the early going.
