PHOENIX -- D-backs third baseman Jake Lamb missed Friday night's game because he felt under the weather.
He said he still felt terrible on Saturday night, racked with allergies and the flu, but came back against the Rockies with a vengeance, hitting the longest homer in the big leagues of the season, 481 feet.
"I just feel bad. I've been feeling bad all week," said Lamb after the D-backs blew a tough one, 7-6, when closer Fernando Rodney allowed three runs in the top of the ninth.
"[Friday] I knew early I wasn't going to be able to play. I could barely get out of bed. But when I came to the ballpark Saturday, I told skip I was able to go."
The mammoth two-run bolt to right-center just below and adjacent to the video board by the lefty-swinger in the fifth inning came off Rockies starter Tyler Anderson, a left-hander.
Lamb hadn't hit a homer off a left-hander since last July 6, and of his five homers against southpaws coming into the game, none were more than .400 feet. He's now 2-for-7 against Anderson.
"No, I've never hit a ball that far before," Lamb said. "I mean, I hit it and I watched where it landed, but that's about it. I just wanted to hit the ball hard. That guy has pitched me well. So I did hit it hard."
It was the fifth longest homer hit by a D-back and sixth longest homer overall hit since Chase Field opened in 1998.
Adam Dunn, then with the D-backs, hit the longest, a 504-foot shot on Sept. 27, 2008, also against the Rockies, that one off Glendon Rusch.
The two previous longest home runs this season were 470 feet, hit by Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals earlier Saturday and Manny Machado of the Orioles on Friday.
Lamb is happy to be in elite company, but he's happier still to be learning how to hit against left-handed pitching. Last year, he was platooned, had just 110 at-bats against left-handers and hit .164. This season, he's already had 28 at-bats against lefties, is hitting .214 and it's on the rise. He's a .328 hitter against right-handers.
"You know, the more I see them the better I'm going to do off them," Lamb said about playing against left-handers. "I'm getting there. I'm trying to get better every time. It helps a lot, not even having to check the lineup, just knowing that I'm in there, in the four hole. Yeah, it helps the confidence for sure."