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Pirates topple Rockies, snap winning streak

Jul 29, 2008 - 3:08 AM By Chris Adamski PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Ian Snell found a way to abruptly turn around an outing that appeared to be headed to the same poor fate of many of his recent starts.

Snell rebounded from a rough first time through the batting order to win for only the second time in his past 17 starts as the Pittsburgh Pirates ended the Colorado Rockies' five-game winning streak with an 8-4 triumph on Monday.

"We know he can pitch, he's proven he can pitch," Pirates manager John Russell said. "He's had a little rocky go of it this year, but we've seen since the All-Star break his velocity come back and his aggressiveness. It was just a matter of putting it all together and hitting his spots. He did that tonight."

Nate McLouth homered while Doug Mientkiewicz and Ryan Doumit each had three hits and two RBI for Pittsburgh.

Snell (4-8) was 1-8 since April 6, watching his ERA balloon to a season-high 6.10 in the process. It looked like more of the same through 1 2/3 frames on Monday, as he had allowed three runs and six hits but, after Taveras' RBI single, Snell retired the next 11 he faced.

The righthander was charged with four runs and eight hits, notching eight strikeouts in seven solid innings.

"He was missing with location a little bit the first couple innings," McLouth said of Snell. "But I played with Ian all the way up through the minors, and he seems to be at his best when he's raring back and firing the ball. That seemed like what he was doing in the third through seventh innings. He gave up a couple early, but he battled back and they got nothing else off him."

Colorado starter Valerio De Los Santos only allowed two hits in his four-plus innings but walked six thanks, in part, to throwing only 39 of 82 pitches for strikes.

"I just couldn't throw my fastball for strikes," De Los Santos said. "When you can't throw your fastball for strikes, you're in trouble."

In the fifth, Doumit laced a two-run double off of reliever Jason Grilli (2-1) and Mientkiewicz singled to right to score Jack Wilson. Steve Pearce followed with a sacrifice fly to center, giving Pittsburgh its first lead.

McLouth led off the sixth with a towering blast over the elevated seats in right. It was his 22nd home run of the season and became the 23rd homer in the eight-year history of PNC Park to reach the Allegheny River after it bounced off the concourse beyond the seating area.

It was the second time McLouth has hit a ball out of the park and 10th time overall for a member of the Pirates.

"That guy (Luis Vizcaino) throws pretty hard, and I was looking fastball and it was where I was looking over the plate, and I put a good swing on it," McLouth said.

The bottom of the sixth, Mientkiewicz had another RBI single, followed by Pearce's sacrifice fly that gave the Pirates a 7-3 advantage.

Mientkiewicz has started each of the past six games, going 11-for-23 with five RBI. Doumit has hit safely in 14 of his past 15 starts.

"Everybody pitched in and did their part," Snell said. "It's my job to keep the team in the game, and I did my part. My teammates helped me turn it around."

De Los Santos was making his season debut and only the third start of his career - opposed to 231 relief appearances. Monday was the 35-year-old's first start since April 9, 2000, when he was with the Milwaukee Brewers, and first appearance overall since August 11, 2005 as a member of the Florida Marlins.

"It was just a bad night off the mound for us," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "You're going to have those. You play 162 games, every once in a while some of these are going to show up."

Matt Holliday homered and Willy Taveras and Troy Tulowitzki had two hits apiece for the Rockies, who fell to 9-2 since the All-Star break.

Holliday's shot center was his 18th and came with Taveras aboard in the first. It was his fourth homer in his past 10 games.

The Rockies added another run in the second when Taveras singled in Yorvit Torrealba, but that would be all they would get until Ian Stewart came home when Torrealba grounded into a double play in the seventh.