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Holliday, Rockies edge Braves

Apr 9, 2008 - 4:06 AM By Brady Delander PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Colorado Rockies have been aggressive at the plate early this season with varying degrees of success.

The club's free-swinging ways paid off as Colorado ripped five doubles, including one by Matt Holiday in a 3-for-4, two-RBI performance, during a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night at Coors Field.

"It looked more like us in general," Holliday said. "That guy (Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens) is a good young pitcher, and we hit some balls hard off of him, which is encouraging. I think as a team our confidence is getting there. ... Even our outs, we made a lot hard outs tonight."

Willy Taveras and Todd Helton each had two hits, including a double, as the Rockies (3-5) posted their season high in runs and handed Atlanta (3-5) back-to-back road losses.

The teams traded runs in the first inning. In the top half, Atlanta's hot-hitting Chipper Jones slapped a single off the glove of Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and into left field, scoring Kelly Johnson from first base.

In the bottom of the inning, Helton dropped a two-out double in the right field corner and Holliday followed with a single in the gap between short and third base. Helton chugged home from second base and was aided by wide throw from Braves left fielder Matt Diaz.

Colorado manager Clint Hurdle headed to the mound in that first inning to calm down his young pitcher, Ubaldo Jimenez.

"The only thing I know about pitching is that it's hard to hit. But I do know about rhythm and tempo," Hurdle said. "I asked him if he knew what momentum was. I asked (catcher Yorvit) Torrealba to make sure he understood momentum, because we weren't getting any and I wanted some."

The Rockies took the lead in the fourth inning with a burst of offense and some misplays in Atlanta's outfield. After Helton opened the inning with a single to shallow center field, Garrett Atkins doubled to left field. But Braves right fielder Jeff Francouer didn't field the ball cleanly, and Helton showed off his wheels by scoring from first.

The next batter, Brad Hawpe, went the opposite direction with a similar result. Hawpe's double to left field couldn't be handled by a sliding Diaz, and Atkins scored easily from second base for a 3-1 Rockies lead.

The Braves picked the wrong poison in the fifth, issuing an intentional walk to Helton and opting to face Holliday with Taveras standing at third. Holliday took advantage with a single into right field to bring Taveras in and stretch the lead against Jurrjens (1-1).

After the first inning, Jimenez (1-1) provided little opportunity for the Braves to score until the top of the sixth.

With two out, Mark Kotsay hit his first home run of the season, a two-run blast to right field that also brought in Brian McCann and cut Colorado's lead to a run, 4-3.

"They've been good baseball games on both sides, we've just been on the bad end of it both nights," Kotsay said. "We got a great pitching performance again, we just didn't get it done offensively."

Jimenez exited after the sixth and earned his first win of the season.

The Braves did come within 90 feet of a tie when Mark Teixeira drew a walk to open the eighth inning, moved to second on a passed ball and reached third on an infield grounder from Francoeur. Rockies reliever Brian Fuentes caught Kotsay looking to end the threat.

"Losses are losses," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. "We've been in every game. We've had to play catch-up to get to one run, and we've blown some. (But) it means we've got a good club. ... We're not having much luck with the bats right now."

Colorado closer Manny Corpas picked up his third save of the season by shutting down the game with two strikeouts and a groundout.