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Rockies bullpen dealt mighty blow

Nine-run fifth helps Padres topple Rockies

Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 17, 2007 at midnight

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Rockies-Padres box score

SAN DIEGO — The Rockies' starting rotation is all shook up.

Thursday night, the bullpen fell apart.

The Padres rallied for an 11-9 victory against the Rockies at Petco Park, exploiting what had been a Rockies strength.

The numbers tell the story.

In 15 previous games covering 53 2/3 innings, Rockies relievers had combined to allow six runs.

Thursday night, left-hander Jeremy Affeldt gave up five runs and never retired a batter, and the Padres got another run in the fifth inning off reliever Matt Herges. In all, the Padres scored nine runs in the inning.

"I got my butt kicked, that's all there is to it," Affeldt said. "My fastball was up. I couldn't throw a curveball for a strike. That's not a good combination."

What's more, Affeldt, given a 6-5 lead to protect with two out, gave up a single, double and home run to left-handed hitters, including a two-run go-ahead double to Termel Sledge, who had only one hit and eight strikeouts in 22 previous at-bats against left-handers this year.

The Rockies slipped to six games back of National League West-leading Arizona. They head to Los Angeles for a three- game weekend series against the Dodgers, who are one-half game behind the third-place Rockies for third place.

The Rockies never have finished a season ahead of the Dodgers in the standings.

Backup catcher Pete LaForest brought an end to Affeldt's night by unloading a two-run home run after Evergreen High School graduate Kevin Kouzmanoff had singled in a run.

"It was down the middle of the plate," Affeldt said.

Good went bad in a hurry for the Rockies, who scored four runs in the top of the fifth off Clay Hensley to take a 6-2 lead.

Given the lead, manager Clint Hurdle tried to squeeze an extra inning out of emergency starter Elmer Dessens, whom Hurdle had said he was hoping to get 55 pitches out of in what was his first major league start since Oct. 2, 2005.

"A nine-run inning was the farthest thing from my mind," Hurdle said.

After walking LaForest to start the fifth, Dessens struck out pinch hitter Marcus Giles and got Brian Giles to fly to center. But that was when the game got away from the Rockies.

The next nine Padres batters reached base in a nine-run rally that marked the biggest inning for a Rockies opponent since the Padres scored 12 runs in the ninth inning Sept. 12, 2004, at Coors Field, a record for a Rockies opponent.

Geoff Blum came up with a two-out single off Dessens and Mike Cameron unloaded a three-run home run, cutting the Rockies' lead to 6-5 and bringing an end to Dessens' Rockies debut.

He threw 74 pitches and worked 4 2/3 innings, the first time he had thrown more than 60 pitches and also worked more than four innings since a five-inning, 86-pitch start June 28, 2005.

"(Cameron's home run) was the first hit from a right handed batter," Hurdle said. "He walked the leadoff hitter but got the next two outs quick."

The third out in the fifth was a long time coming.

Affeldt, who has allowed right-handed batters a paltry .202 average, continued to struggle to get out left-handers, who are hitting .292 against him.

He had not, however, given up a home run to a left-handed hitter until the shot by LaForest, who had hit .230 for Triple-A Portland (Ore.) before being called up when Michael Barrett was placed on the disabled list.

After LaForest's home run, Herges came on and gave up a double to Marcus Giles and run-scoring single to Brian Giles before finally getting a flyball to center from Blum that ended the inning.

Dessens, signed to a minor league deal last week after being released by Milwaukee, had pitched three innings a week ago tonight in his only appearance for Triple-A Colorado Springs.

He was held back from a Wednesday start for the Sky Sox when Aaron Cook was scratched from his scheduled start Thursday and placed on the disabled list with a strained left rib cage muscle.

That was the third blow to the Rockies rotation this month. Earlier, they lost Rodrigo Lopez for the rest of the season with elbow surgery. Ubaldo Jimenez has stepped into that role. And last week, Jason Hirsh was sidelined with a fractured fibula. Tim Harikkala made an emergency start Sunday in place of Hirsh.

The Rockies have not announced who will start Saturday, although indications are rookie left-hander Franklin Morales, who has made three starts for Colorado Springs since being promoted from Double-A Tulsa, will get the call for his major league debut.