Rockies Register

MIAMI– For four innings, Ubaldo Jimenez was shutting down the Florida Marlins.  For seven innings, Josh Johnson of Florida dominated the Colorado Rockies.  A three-run homerun by Mike Stanton in the eighth separated these two efforts and gave Florida the lead they needed to put the red-hot Rockies away Sunday afternoon.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jimenez walked the first two batters, then after a wild pitch that allowed them to move to second and third, he walked the third batter.  After striking out Josh Johnson and got Chris Coghlan to fly-out, Omar Infante hit a bases clearing triple to center and giving Florida a 3-0 lead.

In the sixth, Colorado hit back-to-back doubles with Jonathan Herrera driving home Dexter Fowler.  Ty Wigginton pinched-hit for Clay Mortensen and singled as did Fowler on a bunt.  A wild pitch by Clay Hensley moved both Wigginton and Fowler into scoring position with just one out.  Carlos Gonzalez brought Wigginton home on a sacrifice fly and Troy Tulowitzki doubled home Fowler to tie the game 3-all.

In the bottom of eighth, the Florida Marlins broke up the tie and to go on to win the game 6-3 against the Rockies.  Infante singled with one out and after Hanley Ramirez struck out, Gaby Sanchez drew the walk.  A coaching visit to the mound did not help settle down Matt Reynolds who surrendered a 0-1 pitch to the fans in left field.  The three-run homerun gave a big enough lead for the Marlins to hold off the Rockies, who went down in order in the ninth.

Reliever Mike Dunn received the win for Florida as Leo Nunez earned his sixth save of the season with a 1.80 ERA so far.  Matt Belisle suffered the lost for Colorado who look to get back on track in their series against the struggling Chicago Cubs.

DEVER– After bouncing back from having their winning streak snapped by the Chicago Cubs Saturday, the Colorado Rockies ran into Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants to suffer their second loss in three days.  There is not much any team can do regardless of how hot they are when Lincecum is on top of his game.

The Giants starter pitched 7 2/3 innings having another ten-plus strikeout outing this season, striking out ten Rockies and lowering his ERA to 1.67.  For 6 1/3 innings, Lincecum had not issued a Rockies hit till Carlos Gonzalez singled to right.  After Troy Tulowitzki struck out, Todd Helton finally got Colorado a run, doubling home Gonzalez.

San Francisco opened up the scoring early as they scored five runs in the opening frame.  Aubrey Huff hit an RBI single to center that got the rally started for the Giants.  With a walk issued to Pablo Sandoval and Huff on second, Pat Burrell unloaded for his fifth homerun of 2011, hitting a three-run shot to left field.  Nate Schierholtz also went deep to center as San Francisco went back-to-back, giving Lincecum plenty of early run support.

San Francisco continued to give the fans in the bleachers unwanted souvenirs when Freddy Sanchez homered to right center, increasing the Giants lead by six.  In the third, Sandoval was walked and Burrell reached by getting hit by a pitch with one out in the inning.  Schierholtz then singled to right scoring Sandoval and positioning Burrell at third.  Miguel Tejada then put the Giants last run up, sending a sacrifice fly to left field giving the Giants an 8-0 lead.

Rockies starter, Esmil Rogers, got lit up for all eight runs going just three innings and sacrificing three home-runs.  He suffered his first loss.  Lincecum earned his second win after dominating the Rockies at batter friendly Coors Field.  Next up, the Rockies send their ace to the mound, Ubaldo Jimenez, to rebound and get Colorado back on a winning streak.

NEW YORK– The current first place Colorado Rockies continued their winning ways by defeating the New York Mets.  With contribution from their franchise stars, Colorado was able to escape Monday night with a 7-6 victory.

Both outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki each had three RBI’s accounting for all but one of Colorado’s total runs for the game.  Tulowitzki got the first run for the Rockies with an RBI single that scored Jonathan Herrera and scored the last run with a two-run home run in the eighth off reliever Bobby Parnell.

Carlos Gonzalez earned his three RBI’s with the base loaded and hitting a single that scored Jason Hammel and Dexter Fowler.  The third RBI came in the eighth inning as Gonzalez reached on a fielding error allowing Fowler to score.

Colorado’s pitching was not perfect, but, it did the job to earn the victory and keep the Rockies in first for the time being.  Jason Hammel pitched six innings, giving up four runs, two earned.  With a comfortable three run lead entering the bottom of the eighth it quickly became a one run lead as David Wright homered to lead off the inning.  Carlos Beltran followed with a double, scoring on Ike Davis’s single to right field.  Rafael Betancourt settled down after that, retiring the next three Mets.  Huston Street closed the game out in order earning his fifth save.

The Rockies return to action tonight against New York with Esmil Rogers taking the mound.  Sources are reporting that starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez is on track to his return to the rotation.

DENVER — With baseball season now upon us, the unexpected is always at play, especially in a division like the NL West.  That was evident in the opening game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, as errors and a not so dominant Ubaldo Jimenez led to an Arizona victory in extras.

Jimenez, a star pitcher last year, who was always favored for a win last season should he is not superman.  Ubaldo would probably like a second chance at Opening Day as the Diamondbacks pounded him for six runs, five of which were earned, with only one strikeout in six innings.  The damage came in the fifth and sixth as Arizona piled on five runs.  Outfielder Justin Upton hit his first homerun, a three-run shot in the fifth off Jimenez to give Arizona a 4-3 lead.  Jimenez surrendered another homerun in the sixth to Miguel Montero, with Melvin Mora on base due to an error by Ty Wigginton, giving Arizona a 6-3 lead.

Jose Lopez of Colorado cut the lead by a run, hitting a homerun to left field in the sixth.  In the seventh, Arizona had a key error resulting in Colorado tying the game and sending it to extras.  With Carlos Gonzalez at second and Todd Helton at first, the Diamondbacks were an out away from the Rockies threat.  Despite Ty Wigginton striking out on a ball in the dirt, the Diamondbacks gave the Rockies an extra out (literally a fourth out) because catcher Miguel Montero had a throwing error to first that would have gotten Wigginton out and the D-backs out of the inning.  As a result, Gonzalez scored and Helton moved to third.  Jose Lopez came up big again, getting an RBI single, tying the game 6-6.

In the eleventh, reliever Matt Lindstrom of Colorado surrendered the eventual game winning run with men at first and third and one out.  His wild pitch to Kelly Johnson allowed Gerardo Parra to score from third.  In the bottom of the inning, the Rockies could not get their big named players to do anything, going down in order and losing to Arizona 7-6 in a thriller for D-back fans.

However, the Rockies strong pitching cast bounced back as Jorge De La Rosa took the mound and pitched exceptionally well in the second game against Arizona.  De La Rosa had to depart early due to a blister on his left finger, even though his performance up to then was stellar.  His five strikeout day with three hits in 5 1/3 inning of work was a great bounce back from Jimenez’s shaky Opening Day start.  Colorado scored first in the third on a Dexter Fowler RBI double that scored Chris Iannetta.  Chris Iannetta hit his second double of season in the fourth, scoring Jose Lopez.  This allowed pitcher De La Rosa to earn his first RBI of 2011, singling home Iannetta.

Arizona’s only run of the game in the ninth as Justin Upton scored on a single by Ryan Roberts.  Jorge De La Rosa got his first win, while Daniel Hudson suffered the loss, and Huston Street earned his first save for Colorado.  Game three of this series will be made up as snow postponed the original scheduled game.