Final
Jimenez helps Rockies beat Giants
May 7, 2009 - 4:34 AM DENVER(AP) -- Todd Helton season was cut short last year by a bad back.Now that he's healthy, the Rockies slugger is returning to his All-Star form.
Helton homered and had three hits, Matt Murton hit his first home run of the year and Yorvit Torrealba homered and drove in two runs and the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants 11-1 on Wednesday night.
Helton is hitting .529 over his last nine games and is now 11 hits shy of the mark.
"It sure is good to see," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said.
Helton's back, which required offseason surgery, limited him to a career-low 83 games. He's feeling healthy now and since going hitless against the Dodgers on April 25 he is 18-for-34 with two home runs.
"It's still a battle," he said. "It's still going up there and trying to find it every day and making adjustments. It's not easy. I haven't driven the ball like I like but I've been able to get the bat on the ball and find some holes."
In the seventh inning Helton battled reliever Osiris Matos in a 14-pitch at-bat before hitting his third home run of the season into the right-field bleachers to give Colorado an 8-0 lead.
"When he came back after that at-bat, I got little goose bumps," Hurdle said. "That's one to put in the vault right there. He's shown that ability to grind."
Helton's three-hit effort backed a strong outing from starter Ubaldo Jimenez, who went seven innings to get his first win in a month
Jimenez (2-4), who also had two hits, had not won since beating Arizona on April 7. He allowed five hits while striking out six.
"I feel really confident in what I can do out there," Jimenez said.
Randy Johnson (2-3), in search of his 298th career win, was roughed up for seven runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. He didn't strike out a batter in the game for the first time since Aug. 4, 2006, when he was pitching with the Yankees. It's only the fifth time that the left-hander hasn't gotten a K in a start since 1999.
"I'm not too worried about strikeouts," he said. "It is a sign something is wrong? No. By no means."
Johnson didn't allow a hit in the first three innings before the Rockies got to him. He retired the first six batters before Torrealba and Clint Barmes led off the bottom of the third with a pair of walks. Jimenez sacrificed the runners ahead and Dexter Fowler drove in Torrealba with a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0.
After that, Colorado knocked around the five-time Cy Young Award winner. Murton and Torrealba led off the fifth inning with back-to-back home runs to make it 3-0 and the Rockies blew it open in the sixth.
With two outs, Torrealba singled home Helton and Barmes doubled in Murton and Torrealba to chase Johnson.
"He got the ball up there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He wasn't hitting his spots quite as well."
Matos came on in relief and Jimenez hit the first pitch into right field to drive in Barmes and make it 7-0. Meanwhile, Jimenez handcuffed the Giants. He gave up two hits through the first six innings and didn't walk a batter until the seventh. He faltered in the eighth, giving up a leadoff single to Emmanuel Burriss and a double to Eugenio Velez before giving way to Jason Grilli. Burriss scored on Juan Uribe's groundout to short.
Colorado scored three times off of Brandon Medders in the eighth.
Notes: Johnson is 19-8 in 29 career starts against the Rockies. ... The Rockies have hit back-to-back home runs three times this season. ... Colorado has scored nine or more runs in seven of its 11 wins this season.
- NL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
SAN FRANCISCO 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 0
COLORADO 0 0 1 0 2 4 1 3 x 11 13 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: SFO - RANDY JOHNSON, OSIRIS MATOS (6TH), BRANDON MEDDERS (8TH) AND
BENGIE MOLINA, STEVE HOLM (7TH)
COL - UBALDO JIMENEZ, JASON GRILLI (8TH), MANUEL CORPAS
(9TH) AN
May 6 11:05 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY TROY TULOWITZKI SCORED DEXTER FOWLER.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, T TULOWITZKI ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 1
COLORADO 11 BOTTOM, 8TH
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: R SPILBORGHS (.283, 0-FOR-3, BB)
Giants 1, Rockies 11 Bot 8, 0 OutsMay 6 10:57 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY DEXTER FOWLER SCORED SETH SMITH.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, D FOWLER ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 1
COLORADO 10 BOTTOM, 8TH
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: T TULOWITZKI (.195, 0-FOR-4)
Giants 1, Rockies 10 Bot 8, 0 OutsMay 6 10:55 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
TRIPLE BY SETH SMITH SCORED CLINT BARMES.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, S SMITH ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 1
COLORADO 9 BOTTOM, 8TH
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: D FOWLER (.259, 1-FOR-3, SF, RBI)
Giants 1, Rockies 9 Bot 8, 0 OutsMay 6 10:54 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
GROUND OUT BY JUAN URIBE SCORED EMMANUEL BURRISS.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, E VELEZ ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 1
COLORADO 8 TOP, 8TH
DUE UP FOR SAN FRANCISCO: P SANDOVAL (.319, 1-FOR-3)
Giants 1, Rockies 8 Top 8, 0 OutsMay 6 10:43 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY TODD HELTON (3) TO RIGHT WITH 2 OUT IN THE
7TH OFF OSIRIS MATOS.
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 0, COLORADO 8
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: G ATKINS (.227, 0-FOR-3)
Giants 0, Rockies 8 Bot 7, 0 OutsMay 6 10:31 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY UBALDO JIMENEZ SCORED CLINT BARMES.
SITUATION: 4 RUNS IN, U JIMENEZ ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 0
COLORADO 7 BOTTOM, 6TH
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: D FOWLER (.263, 1-FOR-2, SF, RBI)
Giants 0, Rockies 7 Bot 6, 0 OutsMay 6 10:08 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY CLINT BARMES SCORED MATT MURTON AND YORVIT
TORREALBA.
SITUATION: 3 RUNS IN, C BARMES ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 0
COLORADO 6 BOTTOM, 6TH
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: U JIMENEZ (.400, 1-FOR-1, SAC)
Giants 0, Rockies 6 Bot 6, 0 OutsMay 6 10:04 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY YORVIT TORREALBA SCORED TODD HELTON.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, Y TORREALBA ON FIRST, M MURTON ON SECOND, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 0
COLORADO 4 BOTTOM, 6TH
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: C BARMES (.246, 0-FOR-1, BB)
Giants 0, Rockies 4 Bot 6, 0 OutsMay 6 10:04 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY YORVIT TORREALBA (2) TO RIGHT WITH 0 OUT
IN THE 5TH OFF RANDY JOHNSON.
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 0, COLORADO 3
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: C BARMES (.250, 0-FOR-0, BB)
Giants 0, Rockies 3 Bot 5, 0 OutsMay 6 9:43 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY MATT MURTON (1) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN THE
5TH OFF RANDY JOHNSON.
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 0, COLORADO 2
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: Y TORREALBA (.208, 0-FOR-0, BB)
Giants 0, Rockies 2 Bot 5, 0 OutsMay 6 9:42 PM - NL
AT COLORADO - SCORING UPDATE
SACRIFICE FLY BY DEXTER FOWLER SCORED YORVIT TORREALBA.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, C BARMES ON THIRD, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: SAN FRANCISCO 0
COLORADO 1 BOTTOM, 3RD
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: T TULOWITZKI (.203, 0-FOR-1)
Giants 0, Rockies 1 Bot 3, 0 OutsMay 6 9:18 PM
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