Senzatela, Reynolds' HRs lead Rox over Tribe

June 7th, 2017

DENVER -- Rockies rookie brought Indians right-hander Mike Clevinger's brief road dominance to a quick end Tuesday night. Senzatela delivered a three-run double in the second inning and threw 6 1/3 solid innings, as the National League West-leading Rockies won, 11-3, at Coors Field.
Senzatela (8-2), who entered the night tied for the NL lead in wins, and , who homered twice to run his team-high total to 16 and tied a career high with five RBIs, lifted the Rockies to their third victory in the last four games.
"We're rolling and having a good time as a club," Reynolds said. "Everyone's contributing. Everyone's doing their jobs. Our pitching is unbelievable."

The offensive onslaught helped the Rockies overcome 's solo shot in the fifth and 's two-run homer in the seventh, both off Senzatela. But the right-hander held the Indians to three runs on six hits and struck out four. In seven home starts, Senzatela is 6-1 with a 3.20 ERA and has gone at least six innings in all but one outing.
The usually fastball-reliant Senzatela used more offspeed pitches than usual and kept Cleveland off balance with the exception of a few mistakes. Senzatela had been touched for four runs in three of his previous four starts.
"I was thinking they were looking for fastball and I was going to throw off-speed," Senzatela said. "Today I had a really good changeup for me, and a really good slider."
Senzatela's bases-clearing double came after No. 8 hitter Tony Wolters was intentionally walked to load the bases. Before then, Clevinger hadn't surrendered an earned run in two previous road starts. swatted his fifth homer of the season -- and first at Coors since April 25 -- in the third off Clevinger, a two-run shot. Reynolds' first homer was a three-run shot off Zach McAllister in the fifth, and he followed that with a two-run homer off in the seventh.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Senz-sational: Clevinger struck out two of the first five batters and was in position for a double-play grounder when the Indians intentionally walked Wolters to load the bases in the second. But Senzatela, who came in hitting .143 with two RBIs, took Clevinger's first-pitch fastball into the right-center-field gap for a 3-0 lead.
"You're trying your [hardest] to help," said Indians manager Terry Francona, referring to walking Wolters. "When that happens, I'm kicking myself. I would've probably kicked myself more if Wolters throws a base hit into left and we've got the pitcher sitting on-deck. Those are things that kind of make you stay up at night." More >
Matter of time: Reynolds' early-season power surge propelled him into write-in candidacy on the Esurance All-Star Ballot, but he fanned in his first two at-bats and had 10 strikeouts in his previous 17 at-bats. That was forgotten when he took McAllister deep for an 8-1 Rockies lead in the fifth, and he followed that with a two-run homer, his 16th, off Goody. More >

QUOTABLE
"When he's hitting the ball like he did to right field, he gets more dangerous. That means he's covering. And you saw what he did with a breaking ball. I mean, for two months or whatever here, we saw that guy. What a lift he's given them. Shoot, he's hitting in the middle of the order and he's hitting home runs and driving in runs and making plays at first." -- Francona, on Reynolds, who played for the Indians in 2013
"I wouldn't say there's a weak spot in their lineup by any means. [Heck], the pitcher got three RBIs today. There's a lot of good talent over there." -- Clevinger, on the Rockies' lineup
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
It was Reynolds' career sixth five-RBI game. The last one before Tuesday came on April 13, 2013 -- for the Indians against the White Sox.
MOVING UP THE LIST
Gonzalez's homer, his fifth, was significant beyond being his first at home since April 25. It was his 202nd with the Rockies, which moved him past Dante Bichette into fourth place in club history.
"You want to get a hit every time you go to the plate, but when you're struggling and the team is winning, the one thing you want to do when you go to the plate is just contribute," said Gonzalez, who went 2-for-2 with two walks and four runs scored. "Just make opportunities for the guy behind me.
"It was great to see everybody doing their thing. Nolan [Arenado, with four strikeouts] had a bad game, but he's been doing a lot of good things. And when he strikes out four times and we score a lot of runs, that's a great thing."

PARRA IN PAIN
Rockies outfielder singled in his first two at-bats to run his hot streak to 14-for-23 in eight games. However, he suffered a right quadriceps strain while attempting a steal after the second hit, in the third inning, and left the game. The Rockies immediately placed him on the 10-day disabled list. They could be covered in the outfield, however, because they called up left-handed hitting earlier Tuesday. Tapia replaced , who was placed on the paternity list after his daughter was born.
• Parra exits with right quad strain

WHAT'S NEXT
Indians: Right-hander (5-4, 5.83 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound at Coors Field for the Indians' 3:10 p.m. ET Interleague clash with the Rockies on Wednesday. In 100 2/3 innings over 17 career Interleague appearances, Bauer has gone 7-3 with a 2.77 ERA.
Rockies: Lefty (6-3, 3.53 ERA) has a 3.94 ERA and four quality starts out of five outings in his hometown, at Coors Field. He'll start Wednesday's 1:10 p.m. MT finale of the two-game Interleague series against the Indians.
Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.