Rockies, Padres shatter record with 92 runs in four-game series
Coors Field has always been known as a hitter’s haven, but things got completely out of hand over the weekend.
The San Diego Padres and Colorado Rickies put up a combined 92 runs, which set a modern record for a four-game series. That record had stood for nearly 100 years with the Philadelphia Phillies and Brooklyn Dodgers previously scoring 88 runs in May 1929.
The teams reached double-digit runs five times, and the lowest score for either team in any game was six — still 1.25 runs above the league average. Since all but one of the runs were earned, the series raised the Padres’ team ERA from 4.23 to 4.65, while the Rockies’ ballooned from 4.97 to 5.29.
This series had just about everything with extra innings, lots of home runs and even a puddle delay. Here’s a brief highlight of what went down at Mile High.
Friday’s wild comeback for the Padres
Thursday’s game was your standard 9-6 slugfest, but things really kicked into high gear on Friday for what may have been the wildest game of the year.
The Rockies jumped out to a commanding 11-4 lead by the seventh inning, thanks in part to an inside-the-park homer from Ian Desmond, who came off the bench in a double switch. While that would seem like an insurmountable lead for Colorado, nothing is quite safe in Coors Field.
Six of the first seven Padres got hits to start the ninth, including Hunter Renfroe, who hit his second of three home runs on the night. By the end of the frame, the Padres scored six to tie the game and effectively send it into extras.
After two straight quiet innings, the Padres roared back with five more in the 12th, making them the first team since the 1976 Cleveland Indians to have two 5+ run innings in a game in the ninth or later. The Rockies scratched back for one more in the bottom of the frame on Charlie Blackmon’s leadoff homer, but 12 runs would not be enough for the win.
And as if one comeback weren’t enough, the Padres stormed back from down 13-8 in Sunday’s game to score four in the ninth and win by one. This became the first series in which the Padres twice came back from down three or more in the ninth to win games.
Charlie Blackmon is on fire
Blackmon picked up four hits in Friday’s win and hardly slowed down. He added four more hits in the next two games, leaving him one shy of the major league record.
Still, his three-hit day Sunday gave him 15 knocks on the series, which set the major league record for hits in a four-game set. It’s also the second time this season that he’s hit four homers in as many days.
Before the series, Blackmon was already hitting .305/.361/.582, but he’s making his case to make a third straight All-Star Game easy now that he’s up to a clean .336/.385/.652.
Blackmon wasn’t the only outfielder solidifying his resume for the Midseason Classic, as Renfroe followed up his three-homer Friday with a two-homer Sunday. Although he doesn't even qualify for the batting title yet with just 223 plate appearances, Renfroe is tied for second in baseball with 23 home runs.
The strangest delay to a game yet
After all the madness of the first three games, there were quite a few signs that baseball wasn’t meant to play in such a high-scoring environment. Chiefly among them Coors Field seemingly rebelling, begging this madness to stop.
Shortly before Sunday’s game, a water main broke, which caused a massive puddle to form in foul territory along the right field line. Rockies players were pulled off the field until the game could resume 15 minutes after the anticipated start time.
We are currently in a delay due to what appears to be a break in a water main along the right field foul line. The #Rockies have been pulled off the field by umpires.
Lake Lambert is getting larger by the minute. pic.twitter.com/qWLHi1GKwy— Patrick Lyons (@PatrickDLyons) June 16, 2019
Coors Field must have known more chaos was about to ensue because the teams scored 17 runs through two and a half innings.
Fortunately this madness will come to an end, with the Rockies leaving Denver to start a road trip on Tuesday at Arizona’s Chase Field. Which just so happens the ballpark with the second-highest elevation after Coors Field. Yikes.
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