Story homers twice as Rockies rout Phillies
DENVER -- Trevor Story certainly didn't hurt his All-Star case Thursday night.
The Colorado shortstop hit two homers and drove in four runs as the Rockies trampled the Philadelphia Phillies 11-2 in the opener of a four-game series.
With 21 home runs, Story tied the record for homers by a National League rookie before the All-Star break. He shares the mark with Dave Kingman (1972) and Albert Pujols (2001).
Story is one of five players vying to join the NL All-Star team via the Final Vote, which ends Friday.
Rockies starter Chad Bettis pitched 6 2/3 innings, his longest outing in nine starts, and he allowed just two runs. He permitted seven hits, including a Ryan Howard homer in the second, and gave way to Boone Logan with runners on first and second in the seventh inning. Logan struck out Odubel Herrera to end that threat.
Bettis (7-6) got 12 outs on ground balls and struck out five with just one walk.
Mark Reynolds also had four RBIs, his season high and one shy of his career high. He hit a solo homer in the second off Adam Morgan (1-7) and a three-run double in the seventh when the Rockies scored five runs and blew the game open against rookie reliever Edubray Ramos.
Before Thursday, Story was 0-for-11 in three starts since returning from a bruised right middle finger, an injury that occurred when he was hit with a pitch June 26 and caused him to miss four of the next five games.
Story tied his career high with four RBIs and recorded his third multi-homer game. He drove in four runs and homered twice in his major league debut April 4 at Arizona and homered twice April 8 against San Diego.
The win was just the second in 10 games for the Rockies, who went 1-5 on a road trip that ended Wednesday night.
The Phillies had won four straight games and eight of their previous nine. The loss was their fifth straight to the Rockies, their longest skid against Colorado since dropping six straight games from May 30, 1999, to May 20, 2000.
Story hit a three-run homer in the third that extended the Rockies' lead to 5-1, then connected on a solo shot with two outs in the fifth to make it 6-2. Both blasts came against Morgan, who had allowed 11 long balls in 61 1/3 innings prior to his Thursday outing.
Morgan started in place of Aaron Nola, who was given a breather before the All-Star break after going 0-4 with a 13.50 ERA in his past five starts.
The Rockies scored a run in the first on Nolan Arenado's double following DJ LeMahieu's one-out single.
Reynolds led off the second with his ninth homer to give the Rockies a 2-1 lead after Ryan Howard hit his 12th homer in the top of the inning.
Bettis gave up a run in the fourth when Maikel Franco led off with a double and scored on Howard's one-out single, pulling Philadelphia within 5-2. The Phillies' hopes of extending the rally were dashed when Bettis got Freddy Galvis to ground into an inning-ending double play.
NOTES: Phillies 1B Ryan Howard's homer was the 370th of his career, tying him with Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner and Todd Helton for 78th all-time. ... Rockies RF Carlos Gonzalez will participate in the Home Run Derby in San Diego on Monday. Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado was invited and said he was tempted to participate but opted to decline. ... Colorado RP Christian Bergman (left oblique strain) is scheduled to make his fourth rehab start Saturday for Triple-A Albuquerque. He threw 77 pitches in four innings in his last outing Monday. ... Phillies RHP Andrew Bailey (left hamstring strain) is scheduled to be activated Saturday when he is eligible to be reinstated from the 15-day disabled list, and a corresponding roster move will be made. ... Phillies RHP Aaron Nola, who was scratched from his scheduled start Thursday to give him a breather before the All-Star break, will throw a two-inning simulated game Saturday.