Brendan Rodgers homered and matched his season best of four RBIs and Elias Diaz equaled his season high of three runs driven in as the Colorado Rockies rolled to a 13-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night in Denver.
C.J. Cron smashed his 21st homer of the season to help Colorado win its fourth straight game and seventh in its last nine. Charlie Blackmon had three hits and two RBIs as the Rockies collected 17 hits and matched their season best for runs.
German Marquez gave up two runs in 6 2/3 innings while winning his second straight start for Colorado. Marquez (6-7) gave up six hits with no walks while striking out four.
The Pirates have dropped three straight after winning a season-best four games. Jake Marisnick had two of his club’s six hits.
Pittsburgh’s Jose Quintana (2-5) gave up six runs and seven hits over five innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Colorado scored in the bottom of the first inning as Kris Bryant hit a one-out double and scored on Blackmon’s single.
Pittsburgh tied the score in the third when Marisnick doubled, moved to third on a grounder, and Josh VanMeter hit a sacrifice fly.
The Rockies loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the third, and Rodgers went the opposite way with his bases-clearing double to right to give Colorado a 4-1 lead.
One inning later, Ryan McMahon singled and Randal Grichuk doubled to start the frame, and Diaz capped an 11-pitch at-bat with a two-run single to make it 6-1.
Jason Delay hit an RBI single with two outs in the fifth as Pittsburgh cut its deficit to four.
Diaz was at it again in the sixth by delivering a single to right to make it 7-2.
Cron and Rodgers hit back-to-back homers in a four-run seventh off Dillon Peters. Cron hit a 401-foot shot to right, and Rodgers followed with a 433-foot blast to left. The homer was Rodgers’ ninth of the season.
McMahon had an RBI double later in the inning to make it 10-2, and he scored on Grichuk’s single.
Blackmon added a run-scoring single and Yonathan Daza hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to increase the margin to 11.
–Field Level Media
