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Holliday homer lifts Rockies over Braves

Apr 8, 2008 - 3:43 AM By Brady Delander PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- One swing of Matt Holliday's bat breathed life into the fading Colorado Rockies.

In the midst of a five-game losing streak and slouching toward the worst start in club history, Holliday's two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning spurred the Rockies to a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Monday night at Coors Field.

Holliday's first-pitch shot was a blast, screaming toward the seats and landing just over the wall in center field. It might be the boost needed for Colorado's offense, which has produced just 12 runs in seven games.

"It can't get any worse as far as our offense is concerned," Holliday said. "I'm glad for the team that we got a win. If it wasn't me I think it would have been someone else.

"I like hitting in situations like that. I got a pitch to hit and put a decent swing on it."

Holliday's blast gave Colorado (2-5) its first home win of the season for snapped a three-game winning streak for the Braves (3-4).

Both starters - Tom Glavine for Atlanta and Aaron Cook for the Rockies - pitched gems. Glavine gave up three harmless singles and no runs in 6 1/3 innings while Cook allowed just two hits and a run in seven innings.

"They were like expert marksmen out there, shooting skeet tonight. Just taking things down and putting things away," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "You saw two contrasting styles out there. I've watched Glavine for years and he was as efficient as I've ever seen him."

The first run of the game came in the first inning. Atlanta's Yunel Escobar singled with one out, muscling the ball off his hands to shallow right field. Chipper Jones followed with a double that one-hopped to the wall in left field, easily scoring Escobar from first base.

Jones has been hot to start the season, hitting safely in six of Atlanta's first seven games, including four multi-hit games.

That would be all the scoring for the Braves. After giving up the run, Cook retired the next 12 batters - and 20 of 21 - with a walk breaking up the streak.

"I was able to use my sinker and slider to keep them off-balance. Guys were swinging early," Cook said. "It feels good to go out there an throw like that. ... I was throwing good sinkers down the zone and they weren't hitting it solid."

Glavine came out of the game in the seventh inning, one out after giving up a leadoff single to Garrett Atkins.

"It (the weather) wasn't unbearable, but the biggest factor for me was that by the sixth inning it was harder to get loose and get through my warm-up pitches," Glavine said. "That was the big thing for me in a game like this. My pitch count was pretty low, and in warm weather I might stay in there in the seventh inning."

The Rockies threatened in the seventh inning, loading the bases on Atlanta's sidearm reliever Peter Moylan before Willy Taveras struck out to end the inning.

The eighth inning proved more valuable for Colorado. Troy Tulowitzki opened with a double off a 2-0 pitch by the Braves' Blaine Boyer. After Todd Helton struck out, Holliday crushed the first pitch over the fence to give the Rockies their first and only lead.