DENVER — Trevor Story had a historic night on the diamond, hitting three home runs for the first time in his career, and hitting them farther than anyone has done so previously. And each one told a different tale.
The three solo shots gave the Rockies the lead, tied the game and put them on top for good, respectively, as Story paced the Rockies to a 5-3 win to sweep the series with the Giants and extend their lead at the top of the National League West. The Dodgers lost to the Mets earlier in the day, falling 1 1/2 games behind the Rockies, and the idle D-backs fell two back.
The combined distance of 1,380 feet is more than four-and-a-half football fields. Story swung so hard connecting for his first home run that he knocked himself to the ground. His second blast was the longest homer since Statcast™ began tracking distance in 2015 and the longest recorded homer in Rockies history. The 505-foot shot landed on the left-field concourse. He hit his third homer of the game in his third at-bat in the sixth inning for the go-ahead run and his fifth blast of the three-game series.
• The longest home runs for each team
“That’s pretty cool,” the soft-spoken Story said after hearing about the record-breaking distance of his second shot. “There’s been a lot of big home runs here, a lot of big power guys. I’ll take it.”
Video: [email protected]: Black on Trevor Story’s incredible night
“That was awesome,” Rockies manager Bud Black said of the accomplishment. “What great swings. Trev was doing his thing. It was great competition. It’s hard to hit, first of all. And it’s hard to hit homers. It was a great night for sure.”
In his first at-bat, Story’s swing was powerful enough that he knocked himself off his feet as he swung, picking himself up after the ball landed on the left-field concourse, sending fans scurrying to run it down. The first homer went 459 feet, according to Statcast™.
Video: [email protected]: Story smashes 459-ft. home run in the 1st
“That’s how you know he’s hitting everything hard,” Carlos Gonzalez said. “I was like, ‘OK, my guy’s feeling good today, so don’t throw him strikes.’ And he kept throwing him strikes. He took over and carried us tonight. It’s always nice to see your teammate do something special.”
The first homer on its own would have made for a remarkable night, powering an inside pitch out of the park with so much force he couldn’t stay on his feet.
“That first one was a little bit different,” Story said. “I’ve never fallen down like that. On a swing-and-miss for sure. It was a two-strike count and I wasn’t really trying to hit a home run. I was just trying to hit something hard. I guess it was cool, because [Adrian] Beltre was one of my guys growing up, and that was definitely his thing. Mine definitely wasn’t as smooth. I pretty much fell on my face. That was special.”
Story’s mammoth shot in the fourth left his bat at 111.9 mph with a launch angle of 28 degrees, and it made him the fifth shortstop in Major League history to hit 30 home runs and steal 25 bases in a season, a feat last accomplished by Hanley Ramirez for the Marlins in 2008. The ball bounced on the left-center concourse and knocked into the top of the Helton Burger concession stand behind the bleachers. It was his fifth multi-homer game of the season, his second in three days and the 10th in his career.
Video: [email protected]: Story belts a 505-foot HR for longest of ’18
The 505-foot blast surpassed Giancarlo Stanton for the longest recorded homer by Statcast™. Stanton’s homer was estimated at 504 feet, and was also hit at Coors Field on Aug. 6, 2016.
Longest homers by feet since 2015
1. 505 — Trevor Story, 9/5/18 (Coors)
2. 504 — Giancarlo Stanton, 8/6/16 (Coors)
3-T. 495 — Aaron Judge, 6/11/17 (Yankee Stadium)
3-T. 495 — Kris Bryant, 9/6/15 (Wrigley Field)
5-T. 493 — Gary Sanchez, 8/22/17 (Comerica Park)
5-T. 493 — Nelson Cruz, 9/24/16 (Target Field)
5-T. 493 — Michael A. Taylor, 8/20/15 (Coors Field)
8. 491 — Nomar Mazara, 5/25/16 (Globe Life Park)
9. 490 — Joey Gallo, 9/17/17 (Angel Stadium)
10. 489 — Franchy Cordero, 4/20/18 (Chase Field)
“I knew that was close to 500 feet,” Gonzalez said of Story’s homer, having seen Stanton’s bomb from two years earlier. “As soon as it came off the bat, I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s going to hit the scoreboard. It’s going to go straight to my Lamborghini in the parking lot.’ It was awesome. I couldn’t be more proud of him.
“This is one of those kids that just wants to get better every year. He’s definitely getting better. He’s in the MVP conversation now. He’s over 30 home runs, he’s close to 30-30. Close to .300, carrying the team, playing tremendous defense. He can do it all on the field, so I’m really proud of him.”
Gonzalez is not exaggerating. Story was a first-time All-Star this season — homering in his first at-bat — and is hitting .298 with 31 home runs, 95 RBIs, 39 doubles, five triples, and 25 steals.
The third homer in the sixth was a mere 416-foot blast to left, but it prompted a curtain call from the dugout as the 24,790 fans stood and cheered until Story came back out to acknowledge the crowd.
Video: [email protected]: Story hits his 3rd homer gives Rox the lead
“That’s one of those things that you kind of dream about when you’re a kid, just to have that happen to you,” Story said. “It was just something cool that you can look back on when the season’s over, but I’m honestly more excited about the win. Every win from here on out is huge.”
Story’s blasts marked the third-longest combined home run distances in a single game, but the first two took four home runs to rack up the miles. Story’s total is the longest ever for a three-homer performance, surpassing Alex Rodriguez’s mark of 1,324 feet set on July 25, 2015.
Story didn’t do it all on his own Wednesday night. The Rockies got on the scoreboard with a DJ LeMahieu first-inning triple followed by a Nolan Arenado sacrifice fly. They added another run in the seventh when Carlos Gonzalez laced a double to right to open the inning and later scored on a LeMahieu single up the middle.
Video: [email protected]: LeMahieu singles home Gonzalez in the 7th
The game was close throughout, with Story snapping a tie with his third round-tripper. Starting pitcher Antonio Senzatela kept the Rockies in it for five solid innings, allowing three runs on nine hits and two walks while striking out six. The bullpen shut the Giants down the rest of the way, with Harrison Musgrave, Yency Almonte, Scott Oberg, and Adam Ottavino, who got his sixth save, as the Rockies held the Giants hitless for the final four frames.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Despite Story’s three game-changing dingers, it was a tight game to the final out. The bullpen’s remarkable finish was nearly overshadowed by Story’s voluminous output, but after Senzatela put two on in the fifth then stranded them with three straight outs, the bullpen pitched four perfect innings, retiring 12 straight to lock it down.
Video: [email protected]: Ottavino earns 6th save of the season
“Senz hung in there and got through some difficult spots,” Black said. “Musgrave, Almonte, Oberg and Otto did their job. It’s going to take everyone doing their thing for us to get where we want to be.”
SOUND SMART
• Gonzalez’s seventh-inning double extended his hitting streak against the Giants to 24 games, the second-longest active streak against a single opponent in the Majors. Dustin Pedroia has a 27-game streak against Oakland. It’s tied with Matt Holliday (against the Mets) for second in franchise history and trails Todd Helton’s 26-game streak against the Padres.
• Story’s first career three-homer game was the 17th time a Rockies player has hit three in a game, last accomplished by Arenado on July 19, 2017, against the Padres.
HE SAID IT
“When you have a night like tonight, it’s hard to explain. You just kind of get these feelings, these intuitions and you just try to act on them, not try to outthink yourself. For me, I was just trying to keep it simple, just go up there and see something up.” — Story, on feeling locked in at the plate
UP NEXT
The Rockies and Dodgers open a three-game set with pennant implications on the line and a pair of aces on the bump on Friday. Rockies right-hander Jon Gray (11-7, 4.70 ERA) faces Clayton Kershaw (6-5, 2.40) in the opener at 6:40 p.m. MT. Gray allowed two runs over six innings for a win in San Diego his last time out, with both of the runs coming on solo homers. He is 4-0 with a 3.08 ERA over his nine starts since returning from Triple-A Albuquerque. Six of his 11 wins have come at Coors Field, where he owns a 4.56 ERA in 12 starts this season. Los Angeles closer Kenley Jansen will not make the trip under his doctor’s orders after experiencing a cardiac episode last month in Denver.
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLB.com.
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