SAN DIEGO -- Mark Reynolds likes for things to happen a little quicker than most. That's true of both his return from hand surgery in mid-August, and his thoughts on the length of extra-inning baseball games.
"I played an 18-inning game here a couple years ago," Reynolds said after the Rockies 3-2 win over the Padres. "And that was no fun."
So, rather than let the game drag on once again Sunday afternoon, Reynolds jumped on a hanging slider from San Diego reliever Kevin Quackenbush in the 10th inning, sending it 377 feet into the left-field seats of Petco Park.
The home run gave Colorado its 69th victory of the season, and gave Reynolds a milestone 250 round-trippers.
"It's special," he said. "I mean, I never thought I'd have one homer in the big leagues, let alone 250."
Reynolds surpassed Jose Valentin to take sole possession of No. 217 on the all-time home run leaderboard. Additionally, he showed that there was no problem with his swift return from a surgery on his left hamate bone. The 33-year-old veteran was back on the field just 16 days after the operation.
Many wondered at the time whether Reynolds would even be able to get back on the field this season, let alone within a few weeks.
"Much quicker than I thought, to be honest with you," said Rockies manager Walt Weiss. "I thought he might be down the rest of the way, but [he] worked hard to get back and he's player well."
Reynolds is hitting .267 (4-for-15) with a .389 on-base percentage in his seven games since the surgery, while playing a solid defensive first base. His 1-for-4 day at the plate brought his season average to .282 and on-base percentage to .355 -- both career-high marks for him.
"I worked hard to get back," Reynolds said. "How much pain I can tolerate when I play, managing that and just doing what I can, whether it's late-inning defense or a pinch-hit here and there. ... I told Walt I'm good to go, and however he wants to use me, he can use me."
With the benchmark home run added to his list of professional accomplishments, Reynolds is happy to have something other than his 2009 strikeout record to talk about.
"It's a pretty cool accomplishment. I haven't nearly had time to think about it or anything like that," Reynolds said. "It's pretty neat to tell my grandkids one day that grandpa did something cool in the Major Leagues.
"I've got another record too -- I won't tell them about that one."