There was nothing melodramatic about Trevor Story’s bat flip, but his 461-foot, three-run homer was epic.
The Rockies’ shortstop crushed a first-pitch changeup from Genesis Cabrera in the seventh inning to carry the Rockies to a 3-2 win over St. Louis on Saturday night at sold-out Coors Field.
“It was special, for sure, especially in a moment like that, in the big part of the game,” said Story, who hit his 10th homer of the season and his fifth in his last 11 games.
Story said he wasn’t looking for a specific pitch from Cabrera, he just wanted to be ready to launch if he got something good to hit.
“Cabrera has really good stuff,” Story said. “The pitch was kind of middle of the zone, and up, and I tried not to do too much with it. I was just trying to stay short (with the swing) and it worked out.”
Story is always shy about self-promotion but manager Bud Black knew how big the Saturday night homer was to the shortstop.
“I think Trevor has been waiting for that moment,” Black. “Trevor takes a lot of responsibility for his place on this team. I think this was a moment that he will cherish for this season. That was big for him.”
Colorado’s fragile bullpen, the worst in baseball based on ERA, bent but didn’t break. The Cardinals scored twice in the eighth against right-hander Carlos Estevez, pounding out three hits, with RBI singles by Paul Goldschmidt and Yadier Molina. But with runners on first and third, Estevez fanned Harrison Bader for out No. 3.
Daniel Bard walked Paul DeJong to open the ninth, got the next two outs, but gave up a cueball double down the left-field line to Tommy Edman. Bard was a bit wild, but he struck out Dylan Carlson swinging over a 3-2 slider to close out the game. It was Bard’s 12th save, and he pumped his fist when he got it.
The Rockies, who have won five of their last six games, improved to 30-17 at home.
The 48,182 in attendance on fireworks night sure got their money’s worth.
First came a classic pitching duel between two lefties — the Cardinals’ Wade LeBlanc and Colorado’s Kyle Freeland. They also saw Colorado third baseman Ryan McMahon make seven assists, two short of the club record for a third baseman, set by Jeff Cirillo on July 23, 2001, against San Francisco.
“He’s been amazing. He’s elite in my eyes,” Story said. “I think the numbers back that up. He makes every play it seems like. He’s just fun to watch.”
LeBlanc pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, giving up just three hits, with three walks and three strikeouts.
Despite pitching with a right hamstring that’s still a bit sore, and a blister on one of his fingers, Freeland was one-third of an inning better than LeBlanc. Freeland tossed six scoreless innings, also allowing just three hits, walking three and striking out three. Former teammate Nolan Arenado raked a two-out double to right-center off Freeland in the sixth, but Freeland coaxed Molina to ground out to McMahon to end the frame.
“Kyle was solid. Six innings, no runs. Well-pitched,” Black said.
The lefty has not allowed a run in either of his last two starts (across 11 innings) and has posted a 0.53 ERA with 11 hits allowed, five walks and
17 strikeouts across his last three starts.
“I felt good overall and I was finally able to find my changeup,” Freeland said.
Colorado’s starting pitchers, who have been remarkably good at Coors Field all season, have a collective 1.35 ERA in the first six games of the current homestand, with 26 strikeouts and only nine walks. For the season, Rockies starters have a 3.32 ERA at Coors Field.
“I’m very proud of this rotation,” he said. “We’ve been here for a while and we understand this game well. We know how to work properly every five days. I said back in the spring that this team was going to win or lose on the backs of starting pitching, and it’s kind of held to be true.”
Until Story cranked out his home run in the seventh, the Rockies were 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. That, after going 1-for-14 in a 9-3 loss to St. Louis on Friday night.
Colorado almost scored in the fourth inning, and would have, save for a tailormade carom and an excellent play by Goldschmidt at first.
With one out, McMahon on second and C.J. Cron on first, Elias Diaz smashed a grounder to DeJong at short, who tossed the ball to Edmundo Sosa, forcing Cron out at second. Sosa’s throw to first skipped past Goldschmidt, but Goldschmidt barehanded the carom off the wall and threw out McMahon trying to slide into home.
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