CINCINNATI – Walt Weiss has been saying Corey Dickerson is a pretty good hitter; Dickerson proved the Colorado manager correct Saturday night.
Dickerson hit two home runs and two doubles, driving in a career-high four runs as the Rockies routed the Cincinnati Reds 11-2.
“That’s probably one of the best games of my career,” said Dickerson, who was hitting .340 with two homers going into the game. “It shows the versatility of this team and the close-knitedness, coming back from two losses in a row.”
Weiss was impressed.
“Dickerson’s got a pretty good track record of swinging the bat,” he said. “He can hit. It’s nice to be able to get an opportunity to get him into the lineup. He’s worked pretty hard.”
Charlie Blackmon and Dickerson hit back-to-back home runs to start the game. Justin Morneau and Troy Tulowitzki later homered for the Rockies, and Nolan Arenado doubled twice, a day after his 28-game hitting streak ended.
The Rockies got 11 extra-base hits, making things easy for Jordan Lyles (5-0). He struck out eight in six innings and left with a 10-2 lead.
“From the get-go, they put up runs,” said Lyles, who issued a season-high four walks. “Back-to-back (homers) in the first, then a couple of innings later, they put up big runs. I guess you could say I was effectively wild. I struck out a couple more guys than normal.
“I prefer to not strike out that many guys, as weird as that sounds. I’d rather get the groundballs,” he said.
Alfredo Simon (4-2) was tagged for a season-high eight hits and five runs in three innings. Simon was not available after the game, but manager Bryan Price said control was his starter’s problem.
“He made some mistakes up in the zone,” Price said. “When he is on, you see batters pound the ball in the ground. He just couldn’t get the ball down. Their lineup was very comfortable. We are a team that uses both sides of the plate. Simon threw a lot of pitches over the middle.”
That was a big problem against the top-scoring team in the majors, catcher Brayan Peña said.
“(Saturday) wasn’t one of our best games,” Peña said. “That is a very hot lineup.”
Blackmon led off the game by fouling off three 0-2 pitchers before connecting for eighth homer of the season.
Dickerson followed with his third, on a 3-2 pitch. It was the first time in team history that the Rockies had hit a pair of home runs to start a road game.
“Those were both good at-bats,” Weiss said. “We’ve been talking about how we’ve improved in (hitting with two strikes).”
Dickerson never had faced Simon before, but that didn’t matter, he said.
“I watched film on him,” he said. “You try to pick up a few tendencies, but it’s really about feeling comfortable up there with your plan.”
Joey Votto, who hit a game-winning homer for the Reds in the ninth inning Friday night, hit his sixth shot in the second.
The Rockies started to pull away with a three-run third, beginning with Dickerson’s double. Arenado’s double set up Morneau’s eighth home run.
Blackmon and Dickerson hit RBI doubles in the fourth.
Dickerson’s second homer was a two-run shot that sailed 433 feet into the right-field seats in the sixth. Tulowitzki followed with his 11th homer of the season and second in two nights, a 386-foot shot into the left-field seats.
Rockies rumpus
Charlie Blackmon’s leadoff home run was the third of his career and second in five days. He led off Colorado’s 12-1 win over Texas on May 5 with a homer. ... The Reds activated LHP Aroldis Chapman from the 15-day disabled list and optioned RHP Curtis Partch to Triple-A Louisville before the game. Chapman had missed the entire season after being struck in the face by a line drive in a spring training game March 19 and undergoing surgery. ... Despite doubling as a pinch-hitter Friday night, Reds CF Billy Hamilton missed his seventh consecutive start because of sprained knuckles on two fingers of his left hand. Manager Bryan Price wanted to make sure Hamilton is 100 percent, he said. “You can expect him to be in there (Sunday); I think it’s safe to say,” Price said.
