Goldschmidt homers twice, D-backs pound Rockies
DENVER -- Paul Goldschmidt has looked like a new slugger since the calendar turned.
Goldschmidt continued his sizzling June with two long home runs and a double, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Colorado Rockies 9-4 on Friday night.
It was his second straight game with at least three hits, and he has raised his average by 32 points in the past eight days.
"It's nice to be able to contribute. For a lot of these games I wasn't really doing much to help us win and it's nice to be part of the team now," he said after hitting his ninth and 10th home runs. "Hopefully I can keep it going."
Jake Lamb and David Peralta also homered, and Zack Greinke (5-4) tossed 5 2/3 innings and had an RBI single for Arizona.
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Goldschmidt had just 14 hits in May, batting .144 in 27 games, but has already collected 13 hits in seven games this month. He had four hits and three doubles in Wednesday's loss at San Francisco and had another double in the first inning Friday, scoring Arizona's first run.
He added a two-run homer in the third, an estimated 438-foot shot to center field that gave Arizona a 3-1 lead. He topped that with a 439-foot shot to center leading off the ninth for his first multi-home run game of the season and 13th of his career.
"He's extremely hot. It's just a product of a lot of hard work and fighting through those tough, mean times and knowing he's going to come out the other end," Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. "I know that every player that goes through those moments, waits for this to happen and he's right in the middle of a great run."
Arizona is 5-2 in June after losing 13 of 14 at one stretch of May.
Goldschmidt's first blast was one of three homers German Marquez (4-6) allowed in the third. One pitch after Goldschmidt's drive, Lamb went deep down the right-field line. One out later, Peralta homered into the Colorado bullpen to extend Arizona's lead to 5-1.
It was the first time a Colorado pitcher has allowed three home runs in the same inning since Scott Oberg did it on April 19, 2015, at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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"I just missed my spots," Marquez said. "I missed the location of my pitches and they took advantage of it."
Homers by Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story -- a two-run shot to center -- in the fifth inning got the Rockies within 5-4, but Greinke gave himself a cushion with an RBI single in the sixth. Arizona scored two more in the eighth.
Goldschmidt capped the ninth with another towering home run to center off reliever Brooks Pounders.
"You knew he was going to get out of it," Greinke said. "It lasted longer than people probably expected but he's looking good right now."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Diamondbacks OF Steven Souza Jr. (right pectoral strain) will take live at-bats against injured starters Robbie Ray (strained right oblique) and Jorge De La Rosa (right Achilles bursitis) on Saturday, manager Torey Lovullo said. ... A.J. Pollock (fractured thumb) is doing some running and lower-body work. ... RHP Shelby Miller (Tommy John surgery) will throw 85-90 pitches for Double-A Jackson on Sunday.
UP NEXT
Arizona will start RHP Matt Koch (4-3, 3.76) against Colorado RHP Chad Bettis (4-1, 4.02) in the second game of the three-game series on Saturday.
