Noah Spirek | @NoahSpirek | July 24, 2024
Colorado’s 20 runs tied a franchise record for most runs scored in a single game.
Game Story
The Rockies offense, after being shutout on Tuesday night, started the party early on Wednesday. Ezequiel Tovar led off the game with a solo homer against Boston starter Nick Pivetta. Then, with two outs, Brendan Rodgers roped an RBI double, scoring Jake Cave and Kris Bryant, who had both singled, giving Colorado a 3-0 first inning lead.
In the second, after Boston scored an unearned run against Rockies starter Cal Quantrill, Colorado scored two more runs via a pair of RBI singles. Jacob Stallings led off the inning with his 11th double of the season, and he scored on an RBI single from Ezequiel Tovar. Later in the inning, Brenton Doyle lined a single to left field, scoring Tovar and swelling the Rockies lead to 5-1.
The Rockies offense did not relent the rest of the day. In the third, Jacob Stallings clubbed a three-run homer, his fifth of the season, to extend the Rockies lead to 8-1.
After Boston scored a run in the top of the fourth, the Rockies erupted for five in the bottom of the inning. Brenton Doyle earned a leadoff walk and scored on Ryan McMahon’s 15th homer of the season. Bryant and Rodgers singled, setting up a Michael Toglia two-run double, pushing the Rockies advantage to 10 runs. Before the end of the inning, Toglia scored on a Sam Hilliard sacrifice fly, building a 13-2 Colorado lead.
After failing to score in an inning for the first time in the fifth, the Rockies made up for it with six runs in the sixth. Kris Bryant, who went 3-for-6 on the day, started the inning with a single, and he scored on another RBI double from Jacob Stallings. Hilliard joined the hit parade with an RBI single scoring Rodgers, but the big blow in the inning was a Brenton Doyle grand slam.
The blast was Doyle’s 17th homer of the season and first career grand slam, and it staked the Rockies to a 19-3 lead.
Colorado picked up their 20th run in the seventh via a Sam Hilliard sacrifice fly. In the end, the Rockies secured the dominant victory, 20-7.
On the other side of the ball, Colorado starter Cal Quantrill rolled on Wednesday. Quantrill fired his his team-leading 12th quality start of the season by going six innings and allowing three runs (two earned). On the season, he has gone 3-2 with a 3.29 ERA (52.0 IP, 19 ER) in nine starts at Coors Field, seven of them quality.
With Wednesday’s win, the Rockies have won each of their first two series in the second half, and three series in a row at Coors Field.
Quotes
Rockies manager Bud Black on the win: “The series is the important thing. We’ve won some games recently where we played well. I think the offense is ticking up a little bit… Some really good at-bats today against a good pitcher in [Nick] Pivetta. He elevated some pitches and we took advantage of that, but overall the quality of the at-bats were good.”
Cal Quantrill on his start: “I felt pretty good. Obviously, we wanted to come out of the first half and play our best baseball. I think these two series showed that we can do that. That’s a good win against a good team.”
Notes
Brenton Doyle hit his first career grand slam and recorded a career-high five RBI on Wednesday. He is batting .380 (27-for-71) with 10 home runs, six doubles and 24 RBI in 19 games in July, and he is the first Rockies player with 10 home runs in a single month since C.J. Cron in August 2021 (11 home runs).
Ryan McMahon hit his 15th home run of the season, his first since June 22 vs. Washington. The blast snapped a 23-game stretch without a home run, the fifth-longest homerless streak of his career.
Jacob Stallings, with a homer and two doubles, recorded his first career game with three extra-base hits, and tied his career high with four RBI in the ballgame.
What’s Next for the Colorado Rockies?
After an off-day Thursday, the Rockies begin a 10-game roadtrip with a four-game series against the San Francisco Giants. In the series opener, Colorado will send LHP Kyle Freeland (2-3, 5.63 ERA) to the mound, while the probable starter for San Francisco is TBD. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 8:15 MT.
Story by Noah Spirek.
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