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Giambi's 3 homers power Rockies past Phillies

May 20, 2011 - 6:09 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Jason Giambi homered three times and tied a career high with seven RBI to lead Colorado over the Phillies, 7-1, and a split of their two-game series.

Giambi went deep in his first three at-bats to record the first three-homer game of his 17-season career.

Jhoulys Chacin (5-2) earned the victory after allowing one run on four hits and a walk in seven innings. He also fanned nine to help give the Rockies their third win in four games.

"Once we built ourselves a decent lead, it left no doubt to the fact that (Chacin) was gonna take it where it needed to be. Through the seven innings he pitched, he was terrific," said Rockies manager Jim Tracy.

Kyle Kendrick (3-3) took the loss, lasting just three innings in a spot start. He allowed five runs on seven hits and a walk while striking out two in Philadelphia's fifth defeat in six games.

Joe Blanton was scheduled to start, but he was scratched minutes before the first pitch because of soreness in his throwing elbow that occurred while warming up.

Giambi hit a three-run, upper-deck home run in the first and added a two-run shot in the third to give the Rockies a 5-0 advantage.

"That's not where you want them. First one, it was supposed to be a fastball in and it missed down the middle. The second one was supposed to be away and it missed down the middle. Obviously, he's swinging well right now," Kendrick said about his two home run pitches to Giambi.

Giambi hit his third homer of the night off Danys Baez in the fifth to make the score 7-1. The last Rockies player to hit three home runs in a game was Larry Walker on June 25, 2004.

Raul Ibanez hit an RBI ground-rule double to put the Phillies on the board in the fourth. Placido Polanco had a one-out single and Ross Gload struck out two batters later, but reached first after Chacin's pitch bounced past the catcher. Ibanez followed with a drive that bounced over the wall in right- center to bring home Polanco.

But that was the only run for Philadelphia, which posted just six hits.

Matt Lindstrom threw a scoreless eighth inning and Felipe Paulino faced the minimum in the ninth to close out the game for the Rockies.

Game Notes

Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez left the game in the third inning because of left groin tightness...Colorado outfielder Seth Smith increased his hitting streak to eight games by going 3-for-4...Colorado improved to 12-9 on the road this season.