Leadoff HR and grand slam in same game? It's only been done 7 times EVER

DENVER – The Rockies’ Jake McCarthy put himself squarely on the radar on Friday night.

McCarthy socked two home runs – a first-pitch first-inning shot and a fifth-inning grand slam – to increase his season homer total to a career-high nine during the Rockies’ fireworks-filled 15-3 victory over the Giants.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, McCarthy became the seventh player in MLB history to have a leadoff homer and a grand slam in the same game – the first since the Blue Jays’ George Springer on Oct. 3, 2021. The only other Rockie to accomplish the feat was Charlie Blackmon on May 31, 2016. Of those seven, McCarthy is the only one to also have a stolen base in the same game.

“It’s like we’re cherry-picking records,” McCarthy said with a chuckle. “No, it’s cool. Obviously, the sport’s been around a long time, so I’m honored. It’s a pretty crazy stat.”

Even the sane stats say McCarthy – who also drove in a career-high six runs – is going nuts with his numbers. It’s just taken a while for the numbers to jump off the screen.

McCarthy arrived in an offseason trade with the Diamondbacks, and the baseball world may have lost track of him when his batting average sat at .195 on April 19.

A quiet storm has ensued since.

In his last 56 games, McCarthy has batted .330 (68-for-206) with all nine of his homers, plus 13 doubles and four triples. This comes after a June during which he slashed .326/.361/.554 over 22 games.

The first homer came off Giants righty standout Logan Webb, who absorbed seven runs and 11 hits in three innings. The second came in the fifth inning off lefty Matt Gage – significant because it came a day after his homer off Marlins lefty John King. Before that, it had been since April 23 that McCarthy had a left-on-left homer.

McCarthy had seen plenty of Gage at Triple-A Reno when they played together in the Diamondbacks’ system.

“He’s a really good pitcher – a tough left-on-left battle, specifically,” McCarthy said. “I’m just trying to make sure I’m swinging at the right pitch and at the very least putting the ball in play, maybe getting a sac fly. Fortunately, it went out.”

“It’s been most of the season,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It’s just the way he plays. It’s nothing mechanical. It’s the way Jake comes to the ballpark, ready to play every day, with the intensity that he plays with, knowing himself very well.”

Just as big as McCarthy’s personal run is the feeling that the Rockies’ offense is finding traction. With Thursday’s 14-4 victory over the Marlins, the Rockies have achieved 14 runs in consecutive games for the fourth time in their history – the first time since Aug. 9-10, 2001.

Rookie Cole Carrigg tripled twice. Ezequiel Tovar, who went 1-for-11 in the four-game series split with the Marlins, homered off Webb for two runs to complete a 12-pitch at-bat – “Tovie’s best at-bat of the year; it might be the best at-bat from anybody,” Schaeffer said – as part of his 3-for-4 performance with three RBIs. The explosion came on a night when TJ Rumfield celebrated his second straight National League Rookie of the Month Award.

Not to be outdone, on the pitching side, the night featured nine strikeouts in six innings for Ryan Feltner and a three-inning save for No. 16 prospect Gabriel Hughes in his Major League debut.

McCarthy isn’t the only one whose offense is being validated.

The Rockies are last in the NL West, a game behind the Giants, which makes the next stat eye-poping:

Since June 1, the Rockies are the far-and-away leader in MLB in OPS at .871, with the Brewers a distant second at .818. Stats by the Rockies are often discounted because of their home park, but no one can deny that the numbers represent a new direction for a team that finished last season 43-119. And much improvement has happened on the road during the time period.

“I’m just feeling good, not trying to get caught up in the result,” McCarthy said. “It’s easy when guys around you are having really good at-bats. Besides my first at-bat, it just seemed like I was on deck for 12 pitches.

“It’s contagious. It’s fun, a night like that, when everyone’s contributing and we’re pitching well, and a lot of fans … Tonight was special.”