Rockies’ Story hits MLB-record 7th homer in first six games
Published 4:39 pm Sunday, April 10, 2016
DENVER — Rookie Trevor Story capped his amazing first week in the majors by hitting his seventh home run, helping the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 6-3 Sunday.
In doing so, Story set the Major League record for most homers through a team’s first six games of a season, ahead of Larry Walker (6, 1997), Mike Schmidt (6, 1976) and WIllie Mays (6, 1964), according to Elias Sports Bureau research.
Story’s homer was one of five solo shots by the Rockies. Carlos Gonzalez went deep twice and Nolan Arenado and Ryan Raburn also connected for Colorado, which salvaged the finale of its three-game series.
Story, whose home run streak ended Friday night after he had become the first player in the majors to homer in the first four games of his career, sent a pitch from Brandon Maurer 425 feet into the left field bleachers leading off the bottom of the eighth.
The shortstop now has 12 RBIs through six games.
Chad Bettis (1-0) allowed two runs, one of them earned, on six hits in seven innings. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.
Bettis retired 13 consecutive batters at one point, a streak that ended with Alexei Ramirez’s single in the seventh. Ramirez was thrown out trying to steal on the next pitch by rookie catcher Tony Wolters, who also picked up his first major league hit Sunday.
San Diego had scored a franchise record 29 runs over the first two games at Coors Field after becoming the first team in the majors to get shut out three times to start a season.
Cory Spangenberg’s RBI double off Boone Logan in the eighth made it 4-3 before Miguel Castro came in to get the last two outs of the inning. Jake McGee pitched the ninth for his second save in two tries.
Gonzalez, who went back-to-back with Arenado in the first inning off James Shields (0-2), followed Story’s homer with a 428-foot shot.
Shields gave up four earned runs on six hits — half of them homers — with two walks and two strikeouts.
Raburn’s shot off Shields was his fifth career pinch-hit homer and gave the Rockies a 4-2 lead in the seventh.
