Reds take 1st road series of season in Colorado
DENVER -- The Cincinnati Reds stumbled into Coors Field with 12 losses in 13 games. They put that agonizing stretch behind them and won their first road series of the season Thursday night by pounding the Colorado Rockies 11-4.
The victory gave the Reds three wins in the four-game series and back-to-back victories for the first time since they tied their season-high with a three-game winning streak May 4-6.
The Reds pounded Rockies starter Eddie Butler, driving him from the game in a six-run fifth where the big blow was a three-run homer by Eugenio Suarez. It came on the first pitch from Chad Qualls, who relieved Butler, and put the Reds ahead by seven runs.
The Reds hit four homers. Suarez had his first two-homer game and set a career-high with 10 total bases. He also tied his career-highs in hits (3) and RBIs (4).
Zack Cosart and Adam Duvall also homered for the Reds, whose 14-hit attack included nine extra-base hits.
The drubbing concluded a 2-5 homestand for the Rockies and dropped their record at Coors Field to 10-15. They have fallen 8 1/2 games behind and five games below .500, both season-highs.
Reds starter Alfredo Simon took the mound with a 9.60 ERA this season and a dismal history against the Rockies -- 0-2 with a 7.47 ERA overall in seven games, two starts, and 0-1 with a 5.19 ERA in four games, one start at Coors Field.
But Simon (2-5) stymied the Rockies. He gave up all five of their hits, three of them homers, in seven innings. He surrendered back-t o-back homers to Carlos Gonzalez and Nolan Arenado in the fourth, trimming the Reds' lead to 4-2 and giving the Rockies hope that was quickly dashed when the Reds unloaded on Butler (2-3).
Trevor Story hit a two-run homer off Simon in the seventh. It was Story's 15th homer.
Rockies starter Eddie Butler left after facing four batters in what became a six-run fifth. In his shortest start of the season, Butler gave up a career-high tying 11 hits, including two homers, one triple and five doubles. Chad Qualls relieved Butler, and Eugenio Suarez drove his first pitch over the out-of-town scoreboard in right to give the Reds a 9-2 led.
They made it 10-2 when Billy Hamilton beat first baseman Mark Reynolds' throw to Qualls for a hit, stole second and moved to third on a grounder. With the infield in, shortstop Trevor Story bobbled pitcher Alfredo Simon's grounder, and Hamilton scored.
Butler yielded a career-high eight runs. The barrage began in the first when Jay Bruce tripled home a run with two outs in the first, scoring Joey Votto, who flared an opposite-field, broken-bat double to left.
Zack Cosart led off the third and Adam Duvall opened the fourth with home runs. Eugenio Suarez followed Duvall's shot over the wall in center with a double. He scored on Cozart's two-out double, but Tucker Buckhart, who had walked and tried to score from first, was cut down at the plate on third baseman Nolan Arenado's relay throw.
Back-to-back homers by Carlos Gonzalez and Nolan Arenado in the fourth cut the Reds' lead to 4-2. But they quickly unloaded on Butler in the fifth.
NOTES: Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon drew a walk in the seventh to extend his career-high on-base streak to 28 consecutive games. ... Reds 2B Brandon Phillips returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games due to a sore left ankle. ... Rockies LHP Boone Logan (left shoulder inflammation) threw 20 pitches in a bullpen session. He is scheduled to throw one inning Saturday on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Albuquerque. ... Rockies C Nick Hundley (strained left oblique) caught seven innings Thursday in the first game of a doubleheader and was scheduled to be the designated hitter in the second game for Triple-A Albuquerque. If all goes well, he will rejoin the Rockies on Friday at San Diego. ... Reds RHP Homer Bailey is scheduled to throw off a mound this weekend for the first time since he underwent Tommy John surgery May 8, 2015.