Rockies find timely power in decisive 7-run 5th

DENVER -- David Dahl, Trevor Story and Ian Desmond spent Wednesday night's seven-run fifth inning -- the frame that blew open the Rockies' 14-0 win over the Phillies at Coors Field -- making Rockies manager Bud Black look like a prophet.
"I think we can get the ball over the fence, I think that's still in our game," Black said before the game.
The power display -- coupled with right-hander German Marquez's 11 strikeouts in seven innings -- helped the Rockies vault over the Dodgers into first place in the National League West by a half-game. The Rockies have four games left, all at home -- the finale of a four-game series against the Phillies and three against the Nationals.
"A little premonition," Black said after the game. "Hopefully that continues. But I think our hitters do have that capability in their swings. It hasn't been there for a while, so that tells me that it's coming. And tonight showed. Let's carry that over to the next four games."

Dahl launched his 13th homer of the season, a three-run shot off Phillies starter Nick Pivetta. It was his third homer in as many nights. He had a two-run home run in Monday's win and a three-run homer in Tuesday's victory. Those were opposite-field shots that carried. This one was a moon shot just to the right of center field.
"I had a feeling that would go out," Dahl said. "He just kind of made a mistake and left it right there. I was fortunate to put a good swing on it."
Story, who returned Monday after missing five games with a right elbow injury, homered for the first time since Sept. 13 -- a 465-foot shot into the left-field bleachers, per Statcast™, off reliever Victor Arano. Story's 34 homers tie him for the club lead with Nolan Arenado, who doubled off Pivetta ahead of Story.

"It's hard to hit home runs," Story said when asked about the team's recent struggles to do so. "You're not going to do it every night, but it can be contagious sometimes. But for me, I'm not trying to. I'm just trying to hit the ball hard."
Desmond followed Carlos Gonzalez's double with a 438-foot, two-run homer to center. It was his 21st homer, which ended a span of 103 at-bats without a homer and gave the Rockies a 9-0 lead.
Andrew Butera hit the Rockies' fourth home run of the night -- a two-run shot during a four-run eighth.