Rockies Register

DENVER — After a blow out victory of the St. Louis Cardinals Saturday, the Colorado Rockies came back to the park with the same aggression they have been showing the entire month of May.  Those fifteen-runs translated into three-runs for Colorado Sunday as the Rockies fell to St. Louis 4-3, dropping another series this May.

St. Louis jumped out to an early lead in the first, grabbing a 3-0 lead till the Rockies mustered a run in the bottom of the third.  Ryan Theriot singled to start the game off for St. Louis and did not have to wait very long at first as outfielder, Jon Jay, cracked a two-run homerun into right.

After a one-out Lance Berkman walk, Yadier Molina earned his only RBI of the day, singling into center to score Berkman for the Cardinals third run of the inning.

Colorado though managed to get one of those runs back in third on a sacrifice fly by Eric Young that scored Chris Iannetta who reached with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Molina.

But, the Rockies were never completely in this game, blowing a vital opportunity in the seventh to rally for the lead and possibly take the series over one of the top offenses in MLB currently.

Already trailing 4-1 entering the seventh, it seemed as if the Rockies would continue with their May struggles as they look to just make it to June without any further damage.

For a while, it seemed that Todd Helton was going to spark a rally in the seventh by leading off the inning with a double.  Ty Wigginton then followed with an RBI-single to cut St. Louis’s lead.

The Rockies Ryan Spilborghs also singled and Chris Iannetta was issued a walk to load the bases with no outs and the powerful Jason Giambi up at-bat.  However, the Rockies could not capitalize as Giambi struckout and Eric Young lined into a double-play to end the threat and inning.

That seemed to deflate this Rockies team as they failed to tie the game trailing only by two-runs until they got another in the ninth off Young’s RBI-single.  But it would not matter as it would not be enough to defeat St. Louis.

Kyle Lohse of St. Louis won his seventh of the season, tying him for the major league lead.  Fernando Salas continues to maintain late-inning victories for the Cards, as he remains perfect in save opportunities, getting his ninth this afternoon.

With two more games remaining in May at Dodger Stadium, the Rockies are still looking to take their first three-game series of May, compiling only a two-game series sweep of San Francisco in mid-May.

MILWAUKEE — Can Ubaldo Jimenez buy a break?  He has been struggling all season, starting with the blister at the home opener to two-hitting the Milwaukee Brewers in a losing effort and still remains win-less.

It was a pitcher’s duel at Miller Park with a total of four runs being scored between the Rockies and Brewers.  All four runs were put on the board in the third, and, evidently Brewers starter, Randy Wolf, got the better of Jimenez in the finale as the Brewers escaped in all three games for a series sweep of Colorado in one of the few non-Interleague matchups of the weekend.

Despite both Jimenez and Wolf not having their A-stuff Sunday, both pitcher’s were able to go deep into the game as a result of the lack of offense both the Rockies and Brewers were suffering from the get go.

Colorado’s only run of the afternoon came in the third with two-outs.  Dexter Fowler was at the plate with an 0-2 count and sent the next pitch deep into centerfield that allowed him to stretch his hit into a triple.  Fowler then scored on Carlos Gonzalez’s RBI-single that just sneaked through the infield hole on the right side.

With two-out in the bottom of the third, the Brewers bats also decided to wake up while the Rockies defense took a snooze.  With base-runners at second and third, Ryan Braun hit a fly into centerfield that rolled past a diving Dexter Fowler to reach the wall for a triple.  But Braun, paying attention to the play, ran in for the Brewers third run on Fowler’s throwing error.

After the only offense occurring in the third, both pitchers and the bullpen shutdown one another as they both combined for a total of three-hits over the final 36-outs.

DENVER — If this is how May is going to treat the Colorado Rockies, they as well as their fans are in for a long and painful ride as we have just crossed the half-way point.  Colorado put themselves in a great position to be contenders in the West, leading by 4.5-games over the San Francisco Giants at the end of April.  At the end of the Padres series this weekend though, Colorado now finds themselves trailing San Francisco by 1.5-games as they have posted an awful 3-10 record for the month of May.  But, because of their hot start, solid pitching, and batting, the Rockies will remain a threat to snatch the NL West crown from the Giants.

The San Diego Padres took the three-game series from Colorado by winning 8-2 Sunday after posting a five-run seventh to seal the victory.

In his first win of 2011, and first since September 7 of last season, Padres starter Mat Latos four-hit the Rockies allowing two-runs, one of which was earned, all in 5 2/3 innings.

Rockies starter, Jason Hammel, continued his losing streak after starting the season 3-0 as he was the victim of six-runs over 6 1/3 innings.  A Ryan Ludwick three-run homerun in the fourth inning was all the difference in the game.

Colorado opened the game by scoring the first run in the first inning.  After a Dexter Fowler grounded out to first, Mat Latos issued back-to-back walks to Seth Smith and Carlos Gonzalez.  Troy Tulowitzki grounded into a fielder’s choice, but, Smith was able to score on the play due to Eric Patterson’s throwing error.

Todd Helton hit his sixth homerun, and his second in as many days, to cut the deficit to one in the sixth-inning.

But, the Padres were not through by any means as they scored five huge insurance runs off three different Colorado pitchers to prevent a rally from the Rockies in the latter part of the game.

With one out, Eric Patterson and Rob Johnson both singled to center allowing pinch-hitter Chase Headley to also single, this time to left, and score Patterson for a 4-2 lead.

A pitching change did not seem to solve the problem as Will Venable doubled on the very first pitch he saw bringing home Johnson and advancing Headley to third all with two-outs still remaining.  It was déjà vu as another pitching change resulted with a similar result, a double by Jason Bartlett with two runners crossing the plate.  Brad Hawpe concluded the damage with his own RBI-single to center to give the Padres a commanding 8-2 lead they would not relinquish.

SAN FRANCISCO– The Colorado Rockies continued their May struggles Sunday afternoon after suffering their first sweep of the season at the hands of the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.  After surging to a hot April, Colorado has dropped six of seven in the month of May and now find themselves only four games over .500.

San Francisco starter, Ryan Vogelsong, earned his first home-win as a Giant with a little help from outfielder Cody Ross.  Vogelsong one-hit the Rockies in a 6 1/3 innings effort while striking out four.  Colorado’s Jorge De La Rosa on the other hand suffered his first loss as he has had to carry the load of ace with Ubaldo Jimenez still searching for his groove.

Cody Ross was the Giants offense and reason for Vogelsong win Sunday.  After a Pat Burrell one-out double in the bottom of the fourth, Ross singled on a line-drive to left scoring Burrell for the Giants first run.  Ross continued the punch on Colorado in the sixth with a two-run homerun to the left-field stands, putting the Giants up 3-0.

Closer Brian Wilson earned his eleventh save of the season, continuing his dominance after a small hick-up since returning from the disabled-list in early April.  After being three-hit, Colorado will look to jump back to its winning ways when they return home to take on the disastrous New York Mets.

DENVER– The Pittsburgh Pirates used two four-run innings and mistakes by Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez to take the best of three series from the Rockies Sunday afternoon.

Jimenez had his shortest and his worst outing of the season so far.  He pitched four innings in which he allowed four runs on six hits and is currently posting a 7.20 ERA without a win.

The damage all erupted in the second inning with a leadoff walk issued to Ryan Doumit.  On back-to-back singles by Pedro Alvarez and Ronny Cedeno, Doumit scored the first Pirates run.

After retiring the next two batters, it seemed like Jimenez might escape further damage, but, Xavier Paul had other ideas as he tripled to score Alvarez and Cedeno.  Garrett Jones put the finishing touches of the inning with an RBI-double to center, to give the Pirates a 4-0 lead.

In the fifth, the Pirates scored an additional four runs.  Lyle Overbay singled to start the fifth, and before fans realized it, the bases were loaded on a single by Alvarez and a walk to Cedeno.  On a sacrifice fly to right by Charlie Morton, Alvarez tagged from second with two outs in the inning.  The next batter, Andrew McCutchen, singled allowing Alvarez to score and Cedeno to reach second.  Another walk in the inning loaded the bases again, and Garett Jones singled on a grounder to center, scoring Cedeno and McCutchen for an 8-2 lead.

Colorado got a run in the fourth and fifth on RBI line-drives to the outfield.

Finally in the sixth inning, the Colorado Rockies made a threat of their own loading the bases up with just one out on a single and back-to-back walks in the inning.  Dexter Fowler then unloaded for his tenth double of the season scoring Seth Smith and Chris Iannetta, cutting Pittsburgh’s lead.

However, those would be the last runs the Rockies would score for the remainder of the afternoon.  The Pirates relievers over the last 2 2/3 inning allowed just one walk and one single to Colorado’s batters as Pittsburgh took two of three from the Rockies.

Jorge De La Rosa will take the mound tomorrow evening against the Arizona Diamondbacks and looks to continue adding to his win total.