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Rockies pound Cardinals

Jun 9, 2015 - 4:03 AM Denver, CO (SportsNetwork.com) - Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado homered and David Hale pitched seven quality innings in the Colorado Rockies' 11-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Monday's series opener.

Hale (2-0) allowed three runs on six hits with seven strikeouts for the Rockies, who have now won every other game in the last nine.

"Some people may be writing us off, so I'm going to keep that chip on my shoulder," said Tulowitzki. "It's a long season, people need to realize that."

Ben Paulsen went 3-for-5 and scored three times in the rout, as Colorado outhit the Cardinals 16-8.

The Rockies did most of their damage against John Lackey (4-4), who was responsible for 10 runs -- eight earned -- on 12 hits in just four innings. They plated five in the first and five more in the fourth.

"I didn't pitch well. It was a bad night," Lackey said. "This one is going to sting a little bit."

Tulowitzki set the wheels in motion, crushing a three-run homer to left before Lackey had recorded an out. Four more singles led to another two runs, with Nick Hundley and Brandon Barnes producing run-scoring base knocks for the 5-0 lead.

After Kolten Wong put St. Louis on the board with a solo homer in the top of the fourth, Colorado ran up the score in the bottom of the inning. DJ LeMahieu followed Charlie Blackmon's infield single with an RBI double. Two batters later, Carlos Gonzalez lifted a sacrifice fly to right and Arenado hit a two- run shot out to left.

Paulsen tripled and scored Colorado's 10th run when Matt Carpenter misplayed a Hundley grounder.

Ed Easley made it 10-2 with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth inning, and Jon Jay went deep in the sixth. Easley's at-bat was just the second of his career and led to his first RBI.

Hundley put the finishing touches on the win with an RBI single in the home sixth.

Game Notes

Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday left the game with a right quad strain ... St. Louis was 5-1 in its previous six games ... Blackmon, LeMahieu and Tulowitzki all scored twice.