DENVER -- The weeks heading into the All-Star break likely could not have been worse for Trevor Story at the plate.
From the beginning of the Rockies' eight-game losing streak on June 21 until the break, Story hit .190/.230/.259. He had 11 hits in 58 at-bats, struck out 27 times compared to two walks and saw his OPS drop 60 points.
But Story has seemed to kick it into gear. In four appearances (three starts) coming out of the break, he has gone 5-for-14 with three doubles and five RBIs.
"That rest was huge to just kinda reset, take a few days off, let your body heal up," Story said. "And mentally too it's big, just to kinda get away from the game a little bit and not think too much about it."
The break also seems to have helped Story work on his plate discipline. In Monday's 9-6 win over the Padres, Story snapped a streak of 20 straight games with a strikeout and drew a walk for the first time since July 3.
Story also opened the floodgates in the Rockies' big third inning Monday, driving a two-run double to left off Luis Perdomo's 1-2 slider. His fifth-inning walk came after he fell behind 0-2 and fouled a couple pitches to work the count full.

Rockies manager Bud Black said Story has been performing better with two-strikes, taking shorter swings in such situations.
"He's taking a better approach in the overall at-bat," Black said. "It just doesn't happen overnight where you apply it into a game; this has gotta be a mindset by Trev to have at-bats like this."
Story agreed with his manager, saying he's made more mental adjustments recently rather than physical ones.
"Sometimes that mental side shows up as physical," the shortstop added.
Story was not alone in his offensive struggles to close the first half. Though the Rockies rank second in the National League in runs scored following Monday, they averaged just 4.1 runs per game from June 21 to the All-Star break, a full run below their season average of 5.1.
Now that the Rockies have won back-to-back games for the first time since the start of that losing streak, with two high-scoring efforts against the Mets and Padres, Story said his team can use that as momentum to get their offense back in shape.
"We've definitely underperformed lately," Story said. "But [we're] getting back to how we usually swing it. I think it's contagious when we get a couple games stacked up like that, hopefully there's more to come."