Diamondbacks 6 - 3 Rockies
Final
  for this game

Diamondbacks turn to Owings in finale with Rockies

May 26, 2011 - 2:46 PM

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(Sports Network) - Micah Owings will make his second start of the season when he leads the Arizona Diamondbacks into the finale of a four-game series tonight against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Owings was recalled from Triple-A Reno before Saturday's 9-6 win over Minnesota in which he allowed four runs -- three earned -- and seven hits with three strikeouts and a walk in 5 1/3 innings for the no-decision. Owings made his first Major League start since 2009 and was pleased to be back.

"I felt good," Owings told the club's website. "It was awesome just being back, hearing the crowd and the welcome. I really appreciated it."

The right-hander took over Armando Galarraga's spot in the Arizona rotation and went 3-1 with a 4.85 ERA in seven starts with Reno this season. Owings will make his third career start against the Rockies and is 2-0 with a microscopic 0.71 ERA in this series.

Arizona was able to shut down the Rockies in last night's 2-1 win behind eight sparkling innings from ace Ian Kennedy, who allowed only one run on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks. Kennedy is now 6-1 on the season and J.J. Putz preserved the win with a scoreless ninth inning.

The D'Backs took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the sixth inning on a run-scoring groundout by Justin Upton and an RBI single from Chris Young. Young also made a great catch in the eighth inning when he robbed Ty Wigginton of a home run. Kennedy was appreciative of the effort.

"I don't remember exactly what I said," Kennedy said. "But that was one of the best catches I've ever seen. I probably owe him a dinner for that."

The win pushed Arizona over the .500 mark at 25-24 and a half-game ahead of the Rockies for second place in the NL West. It has won 10 of its last 12 games and improved to 2-1 on a seven-game road trip that concludes with three games in Houston over the weekend.

Colorado has dropped two in a row and five of its last six games, and fell to 1-2 on a seven-game homestand that also involves a visit from St. Louis.

The Rockies scored their only run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Todd Helton in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jason Hammel drew the start for the Rockies and allowed two unearned runs in seven innings of work to absorb the loss.

"Right now we're scratching and clawing to try and find anything," Hammel said. "So we're just as frustrated as everyone else is, and we're doing our best to get out of this funk."

Colorado will roll the dice with Clayton Mortensen tonight and he's 1-1 with a 2.17 earned run average in six games (3 starts) this season. Mortensen is coming off Saturday's 3-2 loss at Milwaukee in which he gave up three runs -- two earned -- and five hits with five K's in 6 2/3 innings.

Mortensen, who defeated San Francisco at home his previous time out on May 16, has never faced Arizona in his career. The right-hander has pitched at least six innings in four trips to the mound this season.

Arizona has won five of eight meetings with NL West-rival Colorado this season and is 8-3 in the past 11 encounters between the two ballclubs.






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