Last night, two-time All-Star Nolan Arenado made baseball history by hitting for the Cycle and did so in grand fashion to lift the Colorado Rockies to a 7-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants. This victory also helped to lift the team to a place that they have not been in almost ten years, as their surprising surge continues.
Arenado's game-winning and historic cycle
Last night the Colorado Rockies entered the bottom of the ninth inning losing to the San Francisco Giants 5-4. Nolan Arenado stepped up to the plate with one out and Charlie Blackmon and D.J.
LeMahieu on base. LeMahieu had already singled out to the right to allow Raimel Tapia to score. Going up against All-Star closer Mark Melancon, Arenado swung at the first pitcher to hit a three-run homer to win the game and complete the cycle. This was also the third career walk-off hit of his career, three of which have come against the Giants. Prior to the home run to finish off the cycle, Arenado got a triple in the first inning, a single in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth.
Arenado became to hit the 311 cycle in MLB history and the eighth by a Rockies player. He became only the sixth player in baseball history to hit a walk-off homer with a cycle. The other players to accomplish this are Ken Boyer (1961), Cesar Tovar (1972), George Brett (1979), Dwight Evans (1984) and Carlos Gonzales (2010).
This was also the 17th cycle in Coors Field history, which ties it with Fenway Park for most by an active ballpark. The only difference is that Coors opened in 1995, while Fenway opened in 1912.
It has been a while since the Rockies have been this good
Their victory last night gave the Colorado Rockies their fifth straight victory and their ninth consecutive victory over their West Division rival San Francisco Giants. The Rockies are now sitting at 46-26 (.639%), the best team in the National League and the second-best in baseball, only behind the Houston Astros at 46-24 (.657%).
This is also the first time that the Rockies have been twenty games over .500% since 2009, which was the last time that they made the playoffs.
The Rockies have spent the last several seasons as a middling team that has slowly been building up young talent, which now seems to be clicking. From 2011-16 the team won 75 games or fewer, with their last winning season coming in 2010 at 83-79 (.512%).
Rockies fans have not had a lot to be excited about, as the team has only made the playoffs three times in their first 24 seasons. They did make a marvelous run to the World Series in 2007 but were swept by the Boston Red Sox.
