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Cook wins 15th as Rockies complete sweep of Nationals

By Jack Etkin, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published August 17, 2008 at 2:38 p.m.

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The Nationals' Ryan Langerhans, left, is tagged out at the plate by Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta (20) during the second inning of Sunday's game in Washington. The Rockies completed a three-game sweep with a 7-2 win.

Nick Wass / Associated Press

The Nationals' Ryan Langerhans, left, is tagged out at the plate by Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta (20) during the second inning of Sunday's game in Washington. The Rockies completed a three-game sweep with a 7-2 win.

The Key . . .

Moment: Manuel Corpas needed three pitches to escape the jam he inherited from Matt Herges with no outs in the sixth. After Herges allowed singles to Pete Orr and Wil Nieves to open the inning, Corpas got pinch hitter Ryan Zimmerman to fly to left on a 1-0 pitch. Emilio Bonifacio grounded Corpas' first pitch to second baseman Clint Barmes, who started an inning-ending double play.

Player: Ian Stewart hit a two-run homer in the fourth off left-hander Odalis Perez, giving the Rockies a 3-1 lead. The inning began when Chris Iannetta reached base on shortstop Orr's error, followed by a walk to Troy Tulowitzki. Three of Stewart's past four home runs have come against left-handed pitchers, and Stewart is 13-for-31 (.406) against them with five doubles, three homers and 13 RBI.

Stat: 5 innings pitched for Aaron Cook, who threw 87 pitches and equaled his shortest outing of the season in his 26th start. Cook also threw five innings May 15 at Arizona, where he gave up 10 hits and five runs, threw 91 pitches and lost 8-5.

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WASHINGTON — Second baseman Clint Barmes hit one ball to the outfield in five hitless plate appearances Sunday and reached base once on a walk. Those hard truths in the box score don't reveal his substantial contributions on defense.

Barmes made two superb plays early in the game to help Aaron Cook, who fought his way through five innings as the Rockies beat the Washington Nationals 7-2 to sweep their three-game series.

All the Rockies runs scored on homers: a three-run shot by Ian Stewart off left-hander Odalis Perez in the fourth; a leadoff homer by Brad Hawpe in the four-run eighth off left-hander Charlie Manning, who was brought on to face him; and pinch hitter Seth Smith's three-run blast to center field in the eighth that turned the game into a rout.

The Rockies sent the Nationals to their 10th straight defeat, their longest since they arrived in Washington in 2005.

Cook matched his shortest outing of the season but broke a two- start losing streak and earned his 15th victory as he returned to the mound after a stiff back caused him to be scratched from a start Thursday.

"First thing (pitching coach Bob Apodaca) said when I came out of the game was 'How's your back?' " Cook said. "I said, 'The back feels fine. I just didn't execute some of my pitches, got away with some. It was a battle. Guys played great defense and got me some runs.' "

Barmes made two very different plays in the first two innings that helped Cook immensely. After allowing a one-out single in the first to Willie Harris, Cook speared a ball hit by Lastings Milledge and wheeled to throw to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.

Instead, the ball sailed wide, but Barmes, who was backing up Tulowitzki, caught it and threw to first in time to get Milledge.

"I had like a bad changeup grip when I turned around to throw it," Cook said, "and I left it up. I didn't even see (Barmes) at the time. I was trying to throw it to 'Tulo,' and that was just a huge heads-up play right there."

Barmes shrugged off the compliment, saying, "I was just backing up the play. That's where I felt I needed to be."

Cook got another lift from Barmes in the second, which began with a single by Ronnie Belliard and Ryan Langerhans' run-scoring double. Langerhans took third on a groundout and, with the Rockies infield drawn in, broke for the plate when Wil Nieves chopped a ball over the mound.

Barmes backhanded the ball behind and slightly to the right of the mound, threw across his body and cut down Langerhans at the plate.

"I've never had to make a play like that," Barmes said. "Coming in, charging, I read the ball off the bat well. It was an in-between hop. I picked it clean, and it was a reaction after that."

Cook, who never retired the side in order, escaped serious damage in the fifth. After giving up Milledge's run-scoring ground-rule double that put runners on second and third, Cook struck out Aaron Boone. He loaded the bases by walking Belliard but got Langerhans to fly out on Cook's 46th strike and his 87th and last pitch.

"He had to grind every inning," manager Clint Hurdle said. "Nothing was easy, just a few more strikes than groundballs. The positive thing was he felt good afterwards."

The Rockies bullpen, which didn't allow a run in 10 innings in the series, followed Cook with four scoreless innings. Manuel Corpas did the heavy lifting, following struggling Matt Herges to the mound after Herges gave up back-to-back singles to start the sixth.

Three pitches later, the Rockies were in the dugout. Corpas retired pinch hitter Ryan Zimmerman on a flyout and got Emilio Bonifacio, who had grounded into one double play in 81 at-bats this season, to do just that on his first pitch.

"It doesn't really enter your mind that you're going to double up Bonifacio on a ball on the ground," Hurdle said. "Again, Barmes starts a double play."

Having polished off the outmanned Nationals, whose 44-81 record is the worst in the majors, the Rockies open a three-game series Tuesday at Los Angeles. With 36 games left, they're eight games behind Arizona and the Dodgers, who are tied for first.

If nothing else, the Rockies, coming off a 3-7 homestand that ended with two losses in three games against the Diamondbacks, did what they had to do by sweeping the Nationals.

"It could've been very easy, obviously, with the series we had against Arizona, to just pack it up and say, 'There goes our season,' " Barmes said. "We didn't do that last year. . . . There's still enough games left, and we're not out of this. So we keep plugging along and haven't given up yet, and obviously I think through this series we've shown that."

Comments

  • August 17, 2008

    6:16 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    1somelikeithot writes:

    Guess maybe I'll be the first, and probably the only one to say this, but great game and good win.

  • August 17, 2008

    6:24 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    SDcat writes:

    nope your not alone 1some, great game and good win, as yesterday was as well...I'm holding out hope :)

  • August 17, 2008

    7:55 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    malis writes:

    I'll agree...great game and good win (and Holiday and Barmes showing how you can contribute even without a hit). I'm not, however holding out any hope...but next year looks good!

  • August 17, 2008

    8:10 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    ccash14 writes:

    I second that comment, and third that comment as well! I printed un the schedule for Arizona, Los Angeles, and Colorado. If the rockies win all there home series and the ones on the road against the below .500 teams, they will not only make the playoffs but repeat the hot spell they enjoyed last year. The key is to win the remaining series against their divisional opponents, and sweep teams like Washington, San Deigo, San Francisco, & Cincinnati.

    It's an uphill battle. Good luck Rockies, I haven't given up yet!

  • August 18, 2008

    12:07 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    arvada_mark writes:

    That's all we can do, SDcat, is hold out hope. It's certainly not looking good now, but they keep showing signs. And until they flatline, I'll keep hoping. We need this LA series, for the confidence factor as much as anything.