Lourdes Gurriel Jr. homered and drove in five runs and the Arizona Diamondbacks set a franchise record with a 14-run inning while rolling to a 16-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday in the season opener for both teams at Phoenix.
Gurriel hit a two-run homer in the first inning and drove in three runs with a pair of hits in the 14-run third inning. He scored three times for Arizona, which put together an 18-hit attack.
The Diamondbacks’ third-inning explosion set a modern major league record (since 1900) for the highest-scoring inning on Opening Day.
Ketel Marte also had three hits and scored three times and Gabriel Moreno had three RBIs for Arizona, which went 12-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
The Diamondbacks sent 18 batters to the plate but didn’t hit any homers in the third inning. Gurriel, Marte, Moreno, Geraldo Perdomo and Christian Walker each had two hits during the frame.
Arizona’s Zac Gallen (1-0) allowed one run and three hits over five innings. He struck out three and walked two.
Ryan McMahon reached base four times and had two hits for the Rockies. McMahon’s RBI double in the second inning produced the lone Colorado run.
Colorado’s Kyle Freeland (0-1) was torched for 10 runs and 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked one.
The former Arizona record for runs in an inning was 13, set in the fourth inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates on April 11, 2010.
Arizona led 2-1 entering the inning before Gurriel’s bases-loaded single off Freeland scored one run to start the assault.
Walker delivered a two-run double and Moreno followed with a single to make it 6-1. Eugenio Suarez’s single added another before Blaze Alexander, the eighth hitter of the inning, flied out to right.
Alek Thomas followed with a double to make it 8-1, sending Freeland to the exits. Anthony Molina entered, and the next six Diamondbacks reached base.
Perdomo and Marte each had run-scoring singles to make it 10-1. After Carroll walked for the second time in the inning, Gurriel singled in two. Two batters later, Moreno hit a two-run double to make it 14-1.
Suarez added a sacrifice fly and Alexander lined a run-scoring single to finish off the scoring. The hit was the first in the majors for Alexander, a 24-year-old who was making his big-league debut.
