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Rockies capitalize vs. shaky Diamondbacks bullpen

Sep 1, 2007 - 6:26 AM PHOENIX (Ticker) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks' bullpen continues to struggle.

Brad Hawpe highlighted a 10th-inning rally with a two-run single as the Colorado Rockies posted a 7-3 comeback victory Friday over the Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series.

With the loss, Arizona (75-61) fell into a tie with San Diego (74-60) atop the National League West Division standings. The Padres posted a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.

The Diamondbacks sent Tony Pena (5-3) to the mound for the 10th inning, a move that did not work out. Cory Sullivan led off the frame with a triple and scored when Kaz Matsui's grounder was thrown away by Pena.

After striking out Matt Herges, Pena intentionally walked Matt Holliday, hit Jamey Carroll with a pitch and yielded a sacrifice fly by Garrett Atkins that gave Arizona a 5-3 advantage.

Pena was lifted in favor of Doug Slaten, who gave up a two-run single by Hawpe that provided the final margin.

Herges (3-0) registered the win after pitching a perfect ninth inning and Manny Corpas slammed the door in the 10th in a non-save situation.

Diamondbacks closer Jose Valverde entered for the ninth inning with a 3-2 lead but failed to pick up his major league-high 42nd save. After recording the first two outs, Valverde surrendered an infield single by Todd Helton before pinch runner Carroll scored from first on a base hit by Atkins.

"It is not the bullpen right now, it is baseball," Valverde said. "Everybody says that the bullpen is struggling, but no, it is just baseball."

Over the last five games, Arizona's bullpen has given up 14 runs - 10 earned - and 20 hits in 10 1/3 innings.

"As good as we have been all year, we are not as good right now," Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin said. "But you can't panic. You have to realize that sometimes you go through some bumps in the road and move on."

Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez cruised through the first six innings, yielding just two hits, but he ran into problems in the seventh.

After getting the first two hitters out, the 23-year-old Dominican walked Stephen Drew and hit Mark Reynolds with a pitch. Miguel Montero then smacked Jimenez's first offering into the left field bleachers to give Arizona a 3-0 lead.

"The pitch wasn't that bad," Jimenez said. "He just got the barrel of the bat on it and it went out."

After surrendering a single to Drew in the second inning, Jimenez did not allow a hit or walk until Chris Young belted a ground-rule double in the seventh. Reynolds did reach safely on Jimenez's throwing error in the fifth.

Diamondbacks starter Livan Hernandez was not as dominant but just as effective. Pitching on just three days' rest, Hernandez hurled seven scoreless innings.

The Cuban righthander yielded nine hits with a walk and two strikeouts. Hernandez has a 1.54 ERA in five starts against the Rockies this season.

"I had it in my mind that I had to go out there and compete just to keep it close," Jimenez said. "The main thing for me is to control my fastball, then throw my breaking pitch for a strike. It has been working pretty well for me."

The 32-year-old Hernandez constantly teetered on the brink of disaster. In the second, the Rockies put together three straight singles with one out, but the former World Series MVP induced Yorvit Torrealba to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.

"I think the only inning we went down 1-2-3 was the first inning," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "All we kept talking about was, when you miss an opportunity, create another one. To snatch a win from a team that is on top of you and you are down 3-0, it adds to your confidence and lets you know you can do things."

In the sixth, Hernandez loaded the bases with none out but got Hawpe to foul out and Ryan Spilbourghs to line out to Reynolds at third before Torrealba grounded out to end the frame.

"He was Houdini today," Melvin said. "He was unbelievable. Some of those situations like bases loaded and nobody out and he keeps them there. That was one tremendous performance from one of our starters this year."

The Rockies cut the deficit to 3-2 in the eighth inning against Diamondbacks reliever Brandon Lyon when Sullivan hit a two-run pinch single.

"We were a little deflated when Montero hit that home run. That takes the wind out of your sails," Sullivan said. "This team has been a resilient team all year. We were just trying to capitalize on any opportunity we get, and in a nine-inning game, we will get the opportunity."