Box score of the day: Story's torrid start

Rockies' SS continues to rewrite history books; Kemp drives in 4 for SD

April 8th, 2020

Remember when exploded onto the baseball scene with a record-setting home run barrage to begin his career? It seemed like he had a homer for every game he played in the first week of the 2016 season. Wait, that's because he actually did -- Story belted seven homers in six games, rewriting the history books along the way. Let's look back at the fourth of those first six games of Story's career, when on April 8, he launched a pair of homers in his first performance in front of the fans at Coors Field.

Story wasn't the only one to shine in this one, though. Veteran outfielder Matt Kemp never missed an opportunity to do damage against the Rockies, particularly at Coors Field, and led the Padres to a 13-6 victory to spoil Colorado's home opener.

Player of the game: Matt Kemp, RF, Padres

Kemp was always great against the Rockies, no matter what uniform he had on -- for his career, he has slashed .314/.365/.611 with 46 homers in 178 games against Colorado, by far the most homers he hit against any one club. On this day, Kemp was wearing a Padres uniform, and doing what he seemingly always did at Coors Field, going 4-for-6 with a three-run homer and four RBIs overall. Kemp wasn't with San Diego much longer -- on July 30, San Diego dealt him to Atlanta. In 254 games with San Diego from 2015-16, he hit .264/.301/.462 with 46 homers.

Remember him? Yangervis Solarte, 3B, Padres

What happened to Solarte? Well, from 2015-16, he was a solid contributor in San Diego's lineup, hitting .277/.329/.445. But his numbers have declined dramatically since -- over the past three seasons split between the Padres, Blue Jays and Giants, he's slashed .238/.293/.391. In this particular game, he went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs, a much more common occurrence then that it is now.

He wore THAT uniform? Jon Jay, CF, Padres

Jay's best years came with the Cardinals from 2010-15, and he's bounced around over the past four seasons, having stints with the Cubs, Royals, D-backs and White Sox. We tend to forget about those 90 games he played for the Padres in '16, though, in which he slashed .291/.339/.389. Two of his 101 hits that year came in this game against Colorado, when he singled twice in a 2-for-5 performance.

Before he was big: Trevor Story, SS, Rockies

You can't start a career better than Story began his in 2016 -- literally. This was the game in which Story set an MLB record by homering in each of his first four career games, going deep twice against San Diego. The first was a two-run shot to left off Padres starter Colin Rea, and the second was a solo blast in the ninth off reliever Ryan Buchter. Story homered twice on Opening Day at Arizona as well, giving him six in his first four games, an MLB record. He would go on to tie another rookie record with 10 April homers.

Story has become one of the game's best all-around shortstops -- he can hit, but is also one of the fastest players in the game and excellent defensively. Though his rookie campaign was cut short due to a thumb injury, he still slashed .272/.341/.567 (122 OPS+) with 27 home runs.

Last call: Alexei Ramirez, SS, Padres

Ramirez is best known for his years with the White Sox from 2008-15, but he signed a free-agent contract with San Diego prior to the '16 season. It would be his last in the big leagues, with the 34-year-old hitting .240/.275/.330 in 145 games with the Padres before being released in September. He was signed by the Rays four days later, and played the last 17 games of his career with Tampa Bay, hitting .246 with four extra-base hits. His single against the Rockies on April 8 was his first hit of the season, breaking an 0-for-13 start.