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Rockies hammer Cards 15-4 in Nicasio's debut

May 29, 2011 - 6:30 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Chris Iannetta knocked in a career-high six runs to back Juan Nicasio's impressive major league debut as the Colorado Rockies pummeled the St. Louis Cardinals, 15-4, to even a three-game set.

Nicasio (1-0) went seven innings, allowing one unearned run on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts for the Rockies, who snapped a four-game slide with an offensive output of 18 hits.

"The thing that I was the most impressed with was, to get the lead like he got and go out there and pound his fastball for strikes in the manner in which he did," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said about Nicasio.

Iannetta had a pair of two-run homers and finished with four hits while Ryan Spilborghs was also a big part of the offense with four RBI on three hits.

Allen Craig had a two-run single for the Cardinals, who suffered their third loss in eight games.

St. Louis starter Jaime Garcia (5-1) was handed his first loss of the season in a rough outing. He was pounded for 12 runs -- 11 earned -- on 11 hits and four walks with six strikeouts.

The Rockies started early with a six-run explosion in the first inning.

Eric Young ignited the rally with a single and stole second before Dexter Fowler walked.

Carlos Gonzalez singled to bring home Young and Troy Tulowitzki's infield hit plated Fowler. The Rockies kept the singles coming when Todd Helton lined a ball into right to load the bases with no outs.

After a Ty Wigginton strikeout, Spilborghs drew a walk to send Gonzalez home and Iannetta ripped a two-run single. Young came through with his second at-bat of the inning on an RBI single to end the scoring burst.

"I was leaving a lot of balls up and at this ballpark and with this team, they've got a great lineup, you can't really make that many mistakes," Garcia said about his performance.

Colorado tacked on a run for a 7-0 lead on Spilborghs' RBI grounder up the middle in the second inning.

The Rockies' offense continued to flourish by putting up a five-run fourth. Spilborghs' highlighted the rally with a two-run triple that was followed up by Iannetta's two-run homer.

St. Louis finally got on the board on Ryan Theriot's run-scoring groundout, but the Rockies got it back in the seventh on Alfredo Amezaga's sacrifice fly that plated Fowler.

Three runs were scored by the Cardinals in the eighth, but again, the Rockies responded with a two-run bottom half on Iannetta's second homer of the game to make up the final score.

Game Notes

Colorado is 8-2 during the last 10 games at home against St. Louis...The Rockies took a 80-79 edge in the all-time series...It was Iannetta's first multi-home run game...Young finished with three hits.