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On a chilly autumn night at Coors Field the Colorado Rockies moved to within one win (or one Milwaukee loss) of making the postseason for the first time since 2009 with a dominating performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Several offensive players reached major milestones in the game, and Chad Bettis turned in a whale of a start in a 9-1 victory in front of 48,395 fans.
Nolan Arenado broke the ice with two outs in the first when he hit a solo homer to dead center that put the Rockies up 1-0 and gave him 130 RBI for the third consecutive season. Only ten other players in all of major league history have ever done that. Nolan is the only third baseman on the list.
Two batters later, Mark Reynolds blasted his 30th homer of the season off the bullpen wall in right field. His two run shot made him the third Rockie with 30 on the season, which is the first time since 2004 that that’s happened.
More history followed in the second inning when Charlie Blackmon launched his 37th homer (tying Arenado) into the second deck in right field. The dinger gave him the all-time record for RBI out of the leadoff spot with 101.
Trevor Story added to the lead and continued his hot streak with a two-run homer in the fourth. He’s had a scintillating September and his improvement has been huge for the offense.
Chad Bettis was phenomenal on this night. He allowed one run on four hits over seven innings and retired the last 14 batters he faced. It may have been his best performance all season, especially considering the circumstances. He struck out four and walked one while throwing 95 pitches.
Colorado added two insurance runs in the fifth to expand their lead to 9-1. Carlos Estévez came on for the eighth and allowed two baserunners before getting out of the inning on a great barehanded play by Arenado.
Trevor Story was a double away from the cycle when he came to bat in the eighth inning, but he took a walk after hitting a ball down the right field line that went foul by mere feet. Scott Oberg pitched a clean ninth to seal the win.
The Rockies will try to clinch a postseason spot tomorrow night when Germán Márquez takes on Clayton Kershaw, who the Rockies have already beaten twice this season. The game will start at 6:10 MDT.