Blackmon leads off with 10th HR, Dahl follows

CHICAGO -- Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon continued his traveling power show with his 10th homer this season -- ninth away from Coors Field -- to center field to open Tuesday night's game against the Cubs and Kyle Hendricks at Wrigley Field.
Blackmon's shot went to center field, and David Dahl followed with his first homer of the year, just to the left of center, on a night with the wind blowing out. Nolan Arenado added a third homer off Hendricks in thr fourth inning as Colorado won, 3-1.
"It didn't change my approach," Blackmon said. "It did help that my approach was see the ball up and try to hit the ball in the air, because [Hendricks] has such good sink.
"And you hit the ball in the air, and the wind kind of rewards you."

Blackmon entered the night tied with the Braves' Ozzie Albies and the D-backs' A.J. Pollock for the National League lead in homers. The Yankees' Didi Gregorius, the Mariners' Mitch Haniger and the Angels' Mike Trout entered tied for the Major League lead at 10.
But with the wind favoring the hitters, the Cubs' Anthony Rizzo -- batting leadoff in manager Joe Maddon's attempt to jump-start his bat after a .149 start -- homered the opposite way on Rockies starter Jon Gray's first pitch.
Blackmon has spent much of this season batting second behind DJ LeMahieu in an attempt to boost the club's offense. LeMahieu, however, is on the 10-day disabled list with a right hamstring strain.
Before the game, Blackmon was interviewed by MLB Network Radio, and former Rockies (and Cardinals and Yankees) star Matt Holliday talked to him about the disparity of homers, home and road. Some analysts last season dinged Blackmon for hitting 24 of his 37 homers at traditionally homer-friendly Coors Field.
Holliday noted, "The weather warms up, Coors Field will be better. It's been pretty cold, pretty chilly home games."
Blackmon said, "We've been battling snow, rain ... I just have a feeling as the summer goes on, it heats up, it's going to turn on a little bit at Coors Field."

It was Blackmon's 29th homer to lead off a game. He entered the night tied with Brian Dozier for fourth among active players, behind the Angels' Ian Kinsler (47), the Blue Jays' Curtis Granderson (45) and the Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki (37).
The follow-up homer by Dahl marked the third time in Rockies history that a game has opened with consecutive homers. Eric Young and Ellis Burks did it against the Marlins at Coors on May 4, 1996, and Blackmon and Corey Dickerson accomplished the feat May 10, 2014, against the Reds at Great American Ball Park.

According to Elias, it was the first time that a visiting team has hit back-to-back home runs to lead off a game at Wrigley Field since Aug. 6, 1937, when Roy Johnson and Rabbit Worstler did it for the Boston Bees (Braves franchise).
"Baseball history is real cool," Blackmon said. "And apparently, we're a part of it -- sort of."
It was the second game this season that opened with two homers. The Dodgers' Chris Taylor and Corey Seager did it against the Athletics' Sean Manaea on April 10.