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Cook makes season debut in San Diego

Jun 8, 2011 - 4:13 PM (Sports Network) - Aaron Cook has had to travel a long and difficult road to get back to a major league mound, but he couldn't have picked a better time and place to make his return.

The veteran hurler will attempt to continue his career-long mastery of the San Diego Padres when he makes a long-awaited season debut for the Colorado Rockies in this afternoon's rubber match of a three-game series between the National League West foes at PETCO Park.

Cook last pitched in the big leagues on September 8 of last season, when he was forced to exit a start against Cincinnati after sustaining a fractured right fibula. The right-hander was then shut down at the beginning of spring training with a sore shoulder, and his comeback was further delayed when he broke a finger on his pitching hand back in March.

The 32-year-old pronounced himself fit to go, however, after working seven innings and throwing 103 pitches in a rehab start for Triple-A Colorado Springs last Thursday. Cook allowed three runs on five hits and struck out five before exiting.

Cook will be facing a San Diego squad he's enjoyed great success against over his career, and he'll also be pitching in a venue where he's excelled in the past. The sinker specialist sports an excellent 14-4 record with a 2.86 earned run average in 25 lifetime meetings (23 starts) with the Padres, and owns a stellar 7-1 mark and a 2.21 ERA through 11 PETCO Park.

"I'm comfortable pitching there," Cook told the Rockies' official site. "[The] Humidity helps out a lot, being a sinkerball pitcher. To have the best-case scenario out of something bad would be to come back and pitch in San Diego."

Cook will be participating in a series that's seen plenty of excellent pitching thus far. The Rockies posted a 3-0 victory in the opener behind six shutout innings from rookie Clayton Mortensen, but the Padres turned the tables last night behind a gem from starter Tim Stauffer.

Stauffer outdueled 2010 All-Star Ubaldo Jimenez in Tuesday's 2-0 triumph, with the former first-round draft choice surrendering a mere four hits and a walk while striking out a career-high eight batters over eight innings, also a personal best.

"I felt good from the get-go," said Stauffer, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI single at the plate as well. "I was aggressive throwing strikes, the defense made some great plays on some pretty hard-hit balls and [it was] just a good complete team win."

Jimenez was good as well, allowing just the two runs on six hits and fanning eight Padres through the first seven frames. Despite that strong effort, the 19-game winner from a year ago dropped to 1-6 on the season.

"You know [Jimenez], he was terrific," said Rockies manager Jim Tracy. "He threw the ball great. He looks like the Ubaldo Jimenez of old, it's that simple. And he deserved, as I've said, deserved a heck of a lot better fate than he got."

Cook will be opposed this afternoon by Dustin Moseley, who'll be attempting to deliver back-to-back wins for the first time this season when he toes the rubber for the Padres.

Moseley picked up only his second victory of 2011 by firing seven sharp innings against visiting Houston on Friday, with the Astros mustering just one run and six hits off the tall righty.

The 29-year-old had gone 0-3 with a 5.47 ERA in a five-start stretch prior to that effort, with one of those defeats coming at the hands of the Rockies at Coors Field on May 13. In that game, Moseley's first ever against Colorado, he was tagged for six runs and nine hits in only four innings.

Despite his 2-6 season record, Moseley has registered an overall ERA of 3.00 and has permitted three runs or fewer in 10 of his 12 starts.

Though the Padres won two of three at Colorado from May 13-15, the Rockies have prevailed in eight of their last 11 visits to PETCO Park.