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Diamondbacks-Rockies Preview

Apr 27, 2010 - 5:36 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Arizona (8-10) at Colorado (10-9), 8:40 p.m. EDT

Colorado manager Jim Tracy knew Ubaldo Jimenez was capable of the having the kind of success he's enjoyed through the first month of the season.

Jimenez looks to maintain his early dominance as the Rockies continue their home series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.

After throwing the first no-hitter in Rockies history at Atlanta on April 17, Jimenez (4-0, 0.95 ERA) allowed five hits in 7 1-3 innings of a 2-0 win at Washington on Thursday.

The 26-year-old right-hander is the first pitcher in 17 years to follow a no-hitter with a scoreless outing.

"He's basically becoming who I thought he could become," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said of Jimenez, who won a career-high 15 games last season.

Jimenez has not given up a run in his last 16 1-3 innings, and three total in 28 1-3 innings this season.

"Every pitch now is a little more nasty than before," Nationals starting pitcher Livan Hernandez said of Jimenez's progress. "He's got the stuff to win 20 games every year. ... He continues pitching like that, he's going to win, maybe, the Cy Young one year."

Jimenez has been solid against the Diamondbacks, going 2-2 with a 2.75 ERA in eight career starts.

He'll try to help the Rockies (10-10) bounce back from a 5-3 loss to the Diamondbacks on Monday.

Adam LaRoche hit an three-run homer in the first inning as Arizona (9-10) scored all its runs in the first two innings and held on for its second straight win to snap a four-game losing streak at Coors Field.

The Diamondbacks are off to a good start on their season-high 11-game road trip that's come on the heels of them taking two of three from Philadelphia over the weekend.

"It gets our confidence back to where it was when we started the season, I'm hoping," LaRoche told the Diamondbacks' official website. "I think everybody in here realizes that we're a better team than what we've been showing, and we showed it last series and this was a good start to this one."

LaRoche went 0 for 16 in first three games of the season, but is since batting .364. He's 4 for 8 with three doubles off Jimenez, who will be opposed by Edwin Jackson (1-1, 3.81) in this contest.

After Dan Haren allowed two runs and struck out 10 in eight innings Monday for the Diamondbacks, Jackson looks to build off his longest outing of the season.

Jackson gave up four runs in eight innings, but didn't factor in the decision of a 9-4 loss to St. Louis on Wednesday.

The right-hander hopes his latest effort will give him enough confidence to end his struggles against the Rockies. Jackson is 0-1 with a 13.81 ERA in four starts versus Colorado.

Carlos Gonzalez had two hits, including a leadoff homer Monday for the Rockies, who cooled off after scoring 16 runs in consecutive wins over Florida during the weekend.

Gonzalez is batting .324 on the season, and .387 with four home runs in his last eight games against Arizona.