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Rockies-Padres Preview

May 3, 2010 - 2:23 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Colorado (11-13) at San Diego (15-9), 10:05 p.m. EDT

Just over three weeks ago in his second start of the season, Ubaldo Jimenez surrendered a couple of runs to San Diego Padres.

The Colorado Rockies' ace hasn't been scored upon since.

Jimenez looks to extend his scoreless streak and win his sixth consecutive start Monday night when the Rockies open a three-game series against the NL West-leading Padres at Petco Park.

Jimenez (5-0, 0.79 ERA) leads the majors in ERA and is quickly emerging as one of the best pitchers in the NL. He's the first Colorado pitcher to have a five-win April, and extended his scoreless streak to a franchise-best 22 1-3 innings with six shutout innings in Tuesday's 12-1 win over Arizona. His run started with a no-hitter in Atlanta on April 17, the first in the history of the Rockies (12-13).

"I don't even think about it," the right-hander said after limiting the Diamondbacks to two hits. "You can make a mistake and they could hit a home run and that would be the end of it."

Jimenez, however, hasn't yielded a homer yet this season.

He also hasn't given up a run since April 14, when San Diego (16-9) scored two in the sixth - the final inning Jimenez pitched in a 4-2 win. Jimenez, who has posted a 3.15 ERA in winning his last three starts against the Padres, gave up two runs and seven hits while striking out seven, as the Rockies took two of three from San Diego.

Colorado arrives in San Diego after defeating San Francisco 4-1 on Sunday to snap a three-game skid. Melvin Mora hit a two-run single, while rookie Jhoulys Chacin allowed one hit in seven scoreless innings in his season debut.

The Padres are coming off Sunday's 8-0 win over Milwaukee to take three of four in the series. Scott Hairston and Kyle Blanks hit consecutive homers in the fifth for San Diego, but it was pitching that led the way.

The Padres shut out a Brewers team that arrived at Petco Park leading the league in runs three times - the first time the franchise had three shutouts in a series of any length in its 42-year history.

"Right now we're just feeding off each other, and it's fun," said Jon Garland, Sunday's winning pitcher. "It's a lot of fun. We don't talk about it, but we know it. As long as we can keep coming out and keep giving this team a chance, as you can see, we're going to get on base, we're going to make things happen. There's going to be some rough patches, but as long as we come out and continue to play our game, we're going to be in the mix."

Kevin Correia (4-1, 3.86) looks to help the surprising Padres win for the 14th time in 17 games when he takes the hill in the opener.

Correia is also in the midst of a winning streak, but he's been nowhere near as dominant as Jimenez, recording a 3.27 ERA in winning a career-best four consecutive starts. Correia has struggled with his efficiency, failing to pitch out of the sixth inning in any of his last four.

Against Florida on Wednesday, the right-hander allowed four runs and eight hits in five innings of a 6-4 victory.

This will be Correia's first start of the season against the Rockies after going 0-1 with a 5.65 ERA in three outings against them in 2009.