Three keys
Key moments in the Rockies' 6-1 victory against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon at Oriole Park at Camden Yards:
1 The first two Baltimore batters singled in the third, but Todd Helton turned a Freddie Bynum attempt for a sacrifice bunt into a forceout of Paul Bako at third. Before Jason Hirsh threw the next pitch, he picked off Brian Roberts at second base. Hirsh then retired 19 of 20 in wrapping up the complete game.
2 With one out in the fifth, Matt Holliday beat out a groundball in the hole to short and Helton followed with a flyball to center. Bynum broke back on it, but the ball fell in for a hit and set up Ryan Spilborghs' two-run single that gave the Rockies a 3-1 lead.
3 Miguel Tejada led off the second with a single and scored for a 1-0 Baltimore lead on Aubrey Huff's double. Hirsh walked Kevin Millar - it was the only walk he issued in the game - but rebounded to get a double- play groundball from Jay Payton and a pop-up from Chris Gomez.
Etc.
Center fielder Willy Taveras was 1-for-5, but his broken-bat single in the second inning extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest active streak in the National League. Cleveland's Casey Blake has hit in 19 in a row and Yuniesky Betancourt of Seattle had his 20-game streak end Sunday. . . . Taveras' brother, Luis, is a catcher for the York Revolution in the independent Atlantic League, where one of the pitchers is Matt Hirsh, brother of Rockies pitcher Jason. Former Rockies pitcher Frank Castillo and former Arizona outfielder Danny Bautista also are on the York roster. . . . Jason Hirsh leads NL rookies with 80 1/3 innings and 53 strikeouts, ranking second in the majors to Daisuke Matsuzaka of Boston. . . . Outfielder Spilborghs became the third player to have a multiple-home run game against the Orioles this year, joining Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees (April 7) and Nick Swisher of Oakland (April 23). . . . Helton was 3-for-5 Sunday and is 10-for-24 in interleague play this year. His career average in interleague play is .374. . . . Holliday bounced back from being held hitless in back-to-back games for only the second time this season to go 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored Sunday. . . . Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki had the second golden sombrero (four strikeouts in a game) of his career Sunday. He also struck out four times against Arizona in the second game this season. Tulo- witz-ki has struck out three times in a game twice - his major league debut, Aug. 30, 2006, against the Mets, and May 11 against San Francisco.
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