You couldn't tell Giancarlo Stanton was playing on a last- place team the way he has been hitting lately. The Marlins' slugger tries to lead Miami to a series win this afternoon in the finale of a four-game set against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Stanton has homered in three straight games and also became the first major leaguer to hit a home run in his first six games in one ballpark in last night's 6-5 win. Stanton is the first visiting player to homer in six straight games in one venue since Cleveland's Travis Hafner did it at Tampa Bay's Tropicana Field from 2005-07.
The young right fielder drove in three runs and has 24 homers on the season.
"Any time you do something that no one has ever done in the big leagues, it's something pretty cool," Stanton said.
Jose Reyes had three RBI and Bryan Petersen chipped in three hits and two runs scored for Miami, which is last in the NL East and has won three of four games since dropping five of six.
Nathan Eovaldi earned the win with 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and Steve Cishek survived a scare in the ninth for his ninth save.
The Marlins are 2-1 so far on an 11-game road trip and will have ace Josh Johnson on the hill Sunday afternoon. Johnson has lost two straight starts and is 2-4 in his last six decisions. The right-hander tossed eight innings and allowed one run in a 1-0 loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday and fell to 7-9 in 24 starts with a 3.73 earned run average.
Johnson is 2-4 in 10 road assignments this season, but 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA in five career games (4 starts) against Colorado.
The Rockies have dropped two in a row since winning four straight, including the opener of this set on Friday.
Last night Tyler Colvin had three hits and drove in three runs, and starter Tyler Chatwood allowed six runs in four innings to absorb the loss. He gave up nine hits and a walk to go along with three strikeouts.
"We put together a good offensive eighth inning and had the winning run standing at home plate in the ninth inning," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "We got ourselves in a position where we had a chance to win the game."
Before the game Colorado placed outfielder Carlos Gonzalez on the bereavement list and recalled outfielder Charlie Blackmon from Triple-A Colorado Springs.
The Rockies will hit the road for seven games against the Mets and Cubs following Sunday's test with Miami. They will most likely be without Michael Cuddyer today after he aggravated a right oblique strain in the fifth inning last night. The same injury forced him to the disabled list earlier this month.
"It's extremely frustrating -- it's beyond frustrating," Cuddyer said on the Rockies' website. "Because I felt so good. I felt good on the rehab. I felt good the past two days. I felt good my first two at-bats. And then just one swing, pow."
Drew Pomeranz draws the start for Colorado this afternoon and is only 1-7 with a 5.04 ERA in 13 starts this season. He has lasted just four innings in each of his previous three outings and gave up four runs in four innings of a 9-3 loss at San Francisco last Saturday.
Pomeranz, a left-hander, is 0-4 in seven starts at Coors Field this season and has never faced the Marlins.
Miami won two of three meetings with Colorado from May 21-23 in south Florida.
The Marlins are just 32-50 in games played in Denver.
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