Home runs by Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon propelled the Rockies before they held on for a 6-4 victory over the Reds on Wednesday to take the three-game series at Great American Ball Park — their first series win since April 13-15. Colorado has won four of its last five games, while fading Cincinnati dropped its 10th in the last 11.
“It’s always nice to win a series,” said Arenado, who is on a 9-for-16, three-homer, 10-RBI run. “We won’t win every game. We’re going on another road trip [to Philadelphia for three] knowing that we took care of business here.”
Rockies starter Kyle Kendrick snapped a personal eight-game winless streak with his first victory since Opening Day. Kendrick was charged with four earned runs and five hits over 7 1/3 innings, including one walk and one strikeout. The line is slightly deceiving because the right-hander was cruising until the eighth with a 6-1 lead.
“He was locked in today, throwing strikes, attacking,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. “That was as good as he’s been this year.”
Following Tucker Barnhart’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth, the Reds rallied against Kendrick with a Billy Hamilton single and Skip Schumaker walk. Lefty reliever Boone Logan could not retire any of his three batters as he walked his first two, including Todd Frazier with the bases loaded to force home a run. Jay Bruce blooped a single that landed in short left field for another run that made it a two-run game.
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