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Iannetta powers Rockies over Pirates

May 1, 2011 - 6:17 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Chris Iannetta's three-run homer in the second was enough for Jason Hammel and the Colorado Rockies to edge the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1, at Coors Field.

Andrew McCutchen led off the game with a home run off Hammel (3-1), but Colorado's starter settled down from there, allowing just five more hits and two walks over seven frames.

Pirates starter Paul Maholm (1-4) also lasted seven innings and yielded four runs on seven hits to fall to 1-8 lifetime against the Rockies.

Pittsburgh pulled out a rare Coors Field shutout win in the three-game series opener, and got an early boost Saturday when McCutchen lined his eighth career leadoff home run to left-center field.

"I didn't change the game plan at all," Hammel said. "On a 2-1 fastball down the middle, obviously he's a big-league hitter. He did what he was supposed to do. I just focused on making the next pitch."

But the Rockies knocked Maholm around in the second inning, starting with Carlos Gonzalez's inning-opening double. Jose Lopez then beat out a bunt, and Seth Smith's dribbler down the third-base line scored Gonzalez and left runners on first and second.

Iannetta stepped in and made it four straight hits by sending Maholm's 3-1 offering into the bullpen beyond the wall in right-center for his third home run of the season.

The blast proved plenty against a Pirates offense that stranded a runner 90 feet away in both the third and four innings and bounced into double plays in each of their next three at-bats.

"The three double plays really took any momentum that we'd gotten going away," Pirates manger Clint Hurdle said.

Rafael Betancourt set down Pittsburgh in order in the eighth, and Huston Street worked around a leadoff single in the ninth to post his 10th save.

Game Notes

The Rockies' 17 wins ties a club record for the month of April, set previously in 1997...Daniel Moskos, called up from Triple-A Indianapolis to fill in for the injured Evan Meek, made his major-league debut and hurled a 1-2-3 eighth for the Pirates...Pirates outfielder Jose Tabata left the game in the first inning with a hamstring injury...Maholm entered with a 6.84 earned run average across 50 innings against the Rockies...The Rockies took three of four in Pittsburgh April 7-10.