Alek Thomas homered, tripled and drove in three runs to help the Arizona Diamondbacks earn a 9-3 win against the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series on Friday night in Denver.
David Peralta added a homer and a double, Carson Kelly also homered and Josh Rojas had three hits, including two doubles, for the Diamondbacks, who have won three of four following a five-game losing streak.
Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (7-5) allowed two runs, one earned, and five hits over seven innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Ryan McMahon and Charlie Blackmon homered for the Rockies, who have lost four of six.
Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela (3-5) left after two innings because of apparent shoulder tightness. He allowed three runs and four hits, struck out one and walked one.
Rojas opened the game with a double to deep right field. Thomas followed with an opposite-field triple into the left field corner for a quick 1-0 lead.
Senzatela struck out Ketel Marte, but Christian Walker dropped a single into shallow center field to make it 2-0.
Carson Kelly homered to center with one out in the second to make it 3-0.
Merrill Kelly, who came within one out of his first career complete game against the visiting Rockies in a 4-1 win on May 6, got into a jam in the fifth when Colorado put runners on first and third with no outs. The Rockies could only plate one run on a double-play grounder by Elias Diaz, however, cutting the lead to 3-1.
Peralta re-established a three-run cushion with a solo homer in the sixth, his 10th of the season.
Thomas, a rookie center fielder, hit an opposite-field, two-run homer in the seventh to extend the advantage to 6-1.
McMahon went deep in the bottom of the seventh to trim the lead to 6-2, but the Diamondbacks answered again, scoring two more runs in the eighth.
Blackmon, who turned 36 on Friday, cut the deficit to 8-3 in the eighth with his 13th home run of the season, which matched his total from last season in 150 games.
Rojas doubled to lead off the ninth and later scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-3.
–Field Level Media
