ROCKIES POWER UP IN SWEEP OF PADRES
There were tantalizing teases from Ryan McMahon last season, including game-winning home runs in back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Dodgers last August.
That was not an aberration. McMahon proved again Sunday that he is a major player in the Rockies’ future. McMahon, batting cleanup, was 3-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs as the Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 10-5 at Coors Field to polish off a three-game sweep.
McMahon, the everyday second baseman who filled in at third base as Nolan Arenado got the day off, has driven in 80 runs, tied for second on the team with Trevor Story behind Arenado’s 116. His 80 RBIs are the most by a primary second baseman (minimum 75% of games at second base) in franchise history, besting Clint Barmes’ 76 RBIs in 2009.
“Looking at who I am as a player, I think my job is going to be to drive in runs,” said McMahon. “That’s definitely something I take extreme pride in.”
McMahon drove an oppositefield, two-run homer to left-center in the third, boosting Colorado’s lead to 4-1. He pulled a solo homer to right in the eighth inning to make it 9-3.
The performance was a slumpbuster. McMahon entered the game 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts on the current homestand and admitted he has felt fatigue as the season winds down.
“This season is my first with 162 games, and it’s definitely a grind. You definitely feel it a little bit more, with altitude and all of that,” McMahon said. “But I’m trying to learn how to get through all of that. I’m trying to take recovery a little bit more seriously.”
McMahon played in 91 games and had 181 at-bats last season. He has played in 130 games and has 440 at-bats this season.
“It’s a long physical and mental — I’m not sure grind is the right word — but it’s a long season,” manager Bud Black said. “And he’s learning to go through it.”
Rookie first baseman Josh Fuentes put a bow on Colorado’s victory with a three-run homer to left in the seventh off Padres reliever David Bednar. Fuentes has homered in each of his last two starts and also smacked his first big-league double Sunday.
Colorado right-hander Chi Chi Gonzalez, trying to prove he belongs in next year’s rotation, put up a peculiar line. He allowed only one run and struck out five but also walked five and needed 99 pitches (60 strikes) to get through four innings. The only run he surrendered came via a leadoff home by Luis Urias in the second.
It was Gonzalez’s bat that gave the Rockies a 2-1 lead in the second. He punched a two-run single to left off San Diego’s Cal Quantrill, the first hit and first RBIs of Gonzalez’s career.