Jimenez helps lead Rockies over Astros 5-3

By Tracy Ringolsby, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 5, 2008 at 9:43 p.m.

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Photo by David Zalubowski © AP

Rockies starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez delivers a pitch during Colorado's game Friday night vs. the Astros at Coors Field.

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Rockies right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez had more than a few discussions following his abbreviated effort in San Diego last weekend. Pitching coach Bob Apodaca had a chat with him, and so did bullpen coach Rick Mathews, among others.

And then there was catcher Chris Iannetta.

"He yelled at me," Jimenez said.

And it was apparent in the Rockies' 5-3 victory against the Houston Astros on Friday night at Coors Field that Jimenez heard Iannetta loud and clear. The victory allowed the Rockies to pull five games behind National League West-leading Arizona, which lost 7-0 at Los Angeles on Friday night.

Jimenez, the victim of a six-run fourth inning at San Diego a week ago tonight, in which he gave up only two hits but walked four and threw a wild pitch before being yanked after retiring only two batters, provided the heavy lifting as the Rockies ended Houston's eight-game winning streak.

He had the Astros shut out for five innings, then got out of some potential trouble in the sixth by allowing only one run. He struck out Hunter Pence looking to end the inning with runners on first and third. After the first two batters reached in the seventh, Manny Corpas came on in relief.

"I said what needed to be said," Iannetta said. "And if that helped him, that is good."

The Rockies offense provided help, too, scoring three times in the fourth. Brad Hawpe singled home one run and scored another on Troy Tulowitzki's two-out single. They added two more in the fifth when Clint Barmes led off with a home run and Iannetta drew a bases-loaded walk. The five runs were the most Astros pitcher Brian Moehler has allowed in his past eight starts, and he suffered only his second loss against six wins during that stretch.

The night, though, belonged to Jimenez, whose strong effort came on the heels of Aaron Cook's continuing struggles in a 9-2 loss to San Diego on Wednesday. Cook has only one quality start in his past six.

"We need to get them going," manager Clint Hurdle said. "They were our two big guys the first four months. They are expediting the challenge of a full season. They are both healthy. The issue is execution. It's getting back to basics."

Jimenez got back to the basics against the Astros, raising his record to 10-12. Combining with Cook (16-9), he has given the Rockies two pitchers with double-digit victory totals for the third year in a row. Jeff Francis and Josh Fogg did it each of the past two years.

"I hope I do it every year, but this is nice, because I don't know when I will do it again," Jimenez said.

There isn't much doubt that Jimenez can do it a few more years, particularly if he stays with the approach he had Friday night. He established his fastball to the extent that he threw all fastballs with his first 16 pitches.

"After that, he mixed in his other pitches, but that's the key to pitching, establishing the fastball," Hurdle said.

The approach served Jimenez well. Only three of the 18 outs he registered were flyballs to the outfield. He struck out six, including Humberto Quintero swinging and Moehler looking to end the fifth with runners on first and third.

And in the sixth, with runners on first and third, Pence, who had doubled in the fifth for his 14th hit in a seven-game hitting streak, struck out looking to end the inning.

"Those were two big steps," he said of the strikeouts to end the fifth and sixth.

They were real big steps, said Jimenez, after that fiasco in San Diego. There, he threw 30 pitches in that fourth-inning meltdown, only 10 for strikes, and gave way after back-to-back four-pitch walks.

"Anything was better than that, and this was much better," Jimenez said. "Last game, I threw a lot of breaking balls. This time, I used my fastball, four-seamers, two-seamers, but lots of fastballs."

Most important, Jimenez made an adjustment and it worked, unlike his ongoing problems to start the season when the Rockies lost 13 of his first 14 starts. He failed to get past the fifth inning in seven of those starts.

"It was good to make the adjustments from one game to the next," Jimenez said. "Now I need to make the adjustments from one pitch to the next."

• September 5, 2008

  10:19 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  SDcat writes:

  How does this have anything to do with baseball? RMN..move this post to where it belongs..in the trash.

• September 5, 2008

  10:23 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  SDcat writes:

  Good win for Ubaldo. Got a bit hinky...but we pulled it out. Go ROX!!

• September 6, 2008

  6:17 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Hambone writes:

  How does a moron put a comment on the Rockies game that gets deleted. I love my country but it is filled with absolute stupid cretins. good job BigS, S stands for stomach?

• September 6, 2008

  8 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Tracy Ringolsby writes:

  Let's just say the comment dealt with the election. There was nothing wrong with the poster having an opinion but it just wasn't the right place for it to be displayed.

• September 6, 2008

  8:51 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  1somelikeithot writes:

  Good game, great win! Can they pull it off, we'll see. Go Rockies!!!

• September 6, 2008

  11:07 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  ColoradoSpringsFan writes:

  I know from Tracy's game-preview that both Cook and Jiminez say they are healthy, but I do wonder if the wear and tear at altitude has worn them down. The control is a bit weaker right now and they both seem to leave balls up. But there is nothing we can do about Colorado's altitude. They both seem like gamers though. We are 5 down with 6 more against the Dbacks. There is still a chance. One cannot help but think that if Francis was even 60% of last year, say 9 or 10 wins vs. the 3 this season, the Rocks wouldbe in first place. All those who want to blame this season on Hurdle and O'Dowd for not getting 5 aces, they had good reason to believe that they could pencil Francis in at the top of the rotation and count on no less than 10 wins. Yes, injuries happen, but its rare that a team can win their division if their staff ace goes from 17 to 3 wins. And yet, here we are, with this team still battling after having two thirds of thier outfield on the DL, 3 of the 4 infield on the DL, their all-everything SS having a horrendous first half. Give credit to this team and their leadership for not packing it in. And even if they dont make the playoffs - we have found our catcher, we have a great young talent at 3rd. The future looks good.

  It should be a fun next few weeks. Its the reason they play 162 games.

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