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Holliday powers Cardinals past Rockies

Aug 2, 2012 - 6:32 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Matt Holliday crushed a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning, sparking the Cardinals to a 9-6 victory over the Rockies in the second meeting of a three-game series.

Holliday, one day after homering and driving in four runs in an 11-6 win, smacked two round-trippers and drove in five against his former team on Wednesday.

His efforts allowed Jake Westbrook (10-8) to reach double-digit wins for the second straight season. Westbrook earned the victory despite allowing five runs on nine hits over six innings of work.

Tyler Colvin went 3-for-4 with two triples, two runs scored and an RBI for Colorado, which has dropped five in a row and seven straight at home.

The Rockies went ahead, 5-3, with four runs in the sixth, only to have their bullpen squander the lead in the next half-inning.

Matt Belisle (3-3) took over for fellow reliever Rex Brothers with two on and one out in the seventh, and his second pitch to Holliday was cranked deep into the bleachers in left-center for a three-run homer.

"We had runners in scoring position and I was just trying to get something that I could hit hard. That's really all you can do is just try to hit the ball hard," said Holliday. "It seems to be a good approach."

Rain forced a stoppage of 1:26 after the bottom of the seventh, and when play resumed, the Cardinals added three insurance runs.

Yadier Molina accounted for two of the runs, first scoring on a Matt Reynolds wild pitch in the eighth, then plating Holliday with a fielder's choice grounder in the ninth. Carlos Beltran also scored in the ninth just before Molina was caught in a rundown between first and second for the final out.

Josh Rutledge hit a solo homer off Marc Rzepczynski in the bottom half to cap the scoring.

Holliday's two-run shot in the first inning off Drew Pomeranz went the other way, as he golfed a hanging payoff pitch into the right-field seats.

Tyler Greene nearly had a two-run homer of his own the next frame, but Carlos Gonzalez leapt at the left-field wall and got a glove on it. Gonzalez wasn't able to hold on, and the ball came back into play for a run-scoring double.

"He battled through the four innings that he pitched, but he was a little bit erratic with his command," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said about Pomeranz, who allowed three runs on five hits and walk before being pulled after the fourth.

Colvin tripled and scored on a Ramon Hernandez groundout to get the Rockies on the board in the fourth, then had one of four straight extra-base hits for Colorado in the sixth.

Andrew Brown doubled to lead off the four-run inning and scored on a two- bagger from Jordan Pacheco. Colvin legged out another triple and brought in Pacheco in the process, then crossed home on Hernandez's double.

The inning ended when Eric Young Jr. was thrown out trying to turn his double into a triple, but not before Hernandez scored to make it 5-3.

Game Notes

Holliday is hitting .380 with eight homers and 23 RBI against the Rockies since being traded to Oakland after the 2008 season...Molina had three of St. Louis' 12 hits...Westbrook is 4-0 in his career against the Rockies...Edward Mujica, acquired in a trade with Miami on Tuesday, retired the heart of the Rockies' order in the seventh...Gonzalez went 0-for-4 to snap his 29-game home hitting streak. He was one shy of Larry Walker's franchise record...Hernandez had three hits.