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D-Backs, Rockies open up set at Coors with doubleheader

May 24, 2011 - 2:38 PM (Sports Network) - The Arizona Diamondbacks enjoyed a solid homestand in which they won six of seven games and will now turn their attention to an upcoming road trip, beginning with a day-night doubleheader against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

The doubleheader was made possible after an April 3 contest in Denver was canceled due to inclement weather.

The D'Backs and Rockies will play four games in the Rocky Mountains, with Arizona hoping to extend its season-high six-game winning streak tonight. Arizona split a two-game series with San Diego before sweeping Atlanta in back-to-back games and taking all three meetings with Minnesota in the desert.

In Sunday's 3-2 victory in the series finale from Chase Field, Ryan Roberts plated Willie Bloomquist with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to put the Diamondbacks ahead for good. Juan Miranda homered and starting pitcher Daniel Hudson added an RBI single during a two-run fourth inning for Arizona, which got another strong start from Hudson. He gave up both runs in eight innings for his fifth win in his last six starts.

"Our offense wasn't clicking at all early on and we've worked hard to improve that," said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson. "We've been swinging the bats much better and it's helped us win some games out here."

Gibson's club is back at the .500 mark at 23-23 and is riding the first six- game winning streak since taking eight in a row from April 4-12 during the 2008 campaign. It will send winless starter Joe Saunders to the mound tonight and he's 0-5 with a 5.02 earned run average in nine starts this season. Saunders didn't record a decision in last Wednesday's 5-4 win over Atlanta and hurled six innings of one-run ball. The lefty is in his first full season with Arizona and is 0-3 in four road starts in 2011.

Saunders allowed three runs over six innings for a no-decision in a 4-3 win versus Colorado on May 3, and is 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA in five career starts against the Rockies. Rookie Josh Collmenter, who will take the mound in the nightcap, threw two scoreless innings of relief during a 6-4 loss to the Rockies on May 4. Collmenter has won two straight starts, throwing six shutout innings of two-hit ball in each, and previously pitched in Thursday's 2-1 victory versus the Braves.

Collmenter is 1-0 in four road games, one of which was a start, this season.

Meanwhile, the Rockies were swept in three games at Milwaukee over the weekend and went 1-4 on a five-game road swing against the Phillies and Brewers. They lost for the sixth time in nine tries with Sunday's 3-1 setback in Brew City, as Ubaldo Jimenez failed in his bid for the first win of the season (0-4).

Jimenez allowed three runs -- two earned -- on just two hits and five walks with four strikeouts, and hasn't won since last Sept. 17 at Los Angeles.

"I've been a work in progress," said Jimenez. "I took a major step today. I felt good but I still need to work on my walks."

Carlos Gonzalez drove in the lone run for the Rockies, who received a triple from Dexter Fowler and a double by Ryan Spilborghs. Colorado is back in Denver and will begin a seven-game residency tonight versus Arizona and St. Louis.

The Rockies are second in the NL West standings at 3 1/2 games behind the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants, and will hand the ball to Jorge De La Rosa in the first game today. De La Rosa has been arguably Colorado's most efficient pitcher this season with a 5-2 record and a 3.34 ERA over nine starts, but has lost two of three trips to the mound.

De La Rosa was the loser in Wednesday's 2-1 setback at Philadelphia and was reached for both runs -- one unearned -- and five hits in eight innings. The Mexican lefty, who defeated San Diego before losing in south Philly, is 1-0 in two starts against Arizona this season. De La Rosa has faced the Diamondbacks 15 times (11 starts) in his career, going 6-3 with a 2.24 ERA against them.

Colorado will send Jhoulys Chacin to the mound in the second meeting with Arizona and he's also 5-2 in nine starts to go along with a 2.70. He is 2-0 in his past four trips to the mound and defeated Philadelphia in Thursday's 7-1 pounding of the hosts. He lasted seven innings that day and surrendered only one run and four hits with a season-best nine strikeouts.

Chacin, a right-hander, beat Arizona with seven innings of two-run ball in a 6-4 triumph in the desert on May 4 and is 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA in six career games, five of which have been starts, in this series.

Arizona has won three of five meetings with NL West-rival Colorado this season and is 6-2 in the past eight encounters between the two ballclubs.