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Chacin a win: Rockies righty takes ball in Cleveland

Jun 21, 2011 - 3:02 PM (Sports Network) -- The Colorado Rockies may still have the National League's 2010 All-Star Game starter on their staff, but Jhoulys Chacin is quietly emerging as the team's go-to pitcher.

The young right-hander will attempt to nail down his ninth victory of the season when he takes the mound for a Colorado squad seeking a second consecutive win over the Cleveland Indians tonight at Progressive Field.

With Ubaldo Jimenez, a 19-game winner last year, struggling to repeat his 2010 breakthrough and talented lefty Jorge De La Rosa out for the season with an elbow injury, Chacin has taken over the role as the Rockies' ace in his second full campaign in the majors. The 23-year-old Venezuelan has registered an outstanding 8-4 record and a 2.81 earned run average through his first 14 starts, and Colorado is 9-5 in games in which he's pitched.

"You go through that list of starting pitchers in our league, there's a handful of guys that you can make a case for [for the All-Star Game], and he's probably one of them," San Diego manager Bud Black said of Chacin shortly after his Padres were dealt a 6-3 loss by the Colorado hurler this past Wednesday.

Chacin worked the first six innings of that tilt and yielded just one run on three hits while striking out seven, improving to 3-0 with a sensational 0.90 ERA in three June starts. Five days prior, he fired eight shutout frames and fanned nine Los Angeles hitters in a home victory over the Dodgers on June 10.

Pitching on the road also hasn't been a problem for Chacin, who's 4-1 with a 3.48 ERA in five away outings this season entering his first career matchup against the Indians.

He'll be trying to lead the Rockies to a fifth triumph in six contests tonight after his team outslugged Cleveland in Monday's opener of this three-game set. Colorado scored six times in the fifth inning, highlighted by Jason Giambi's three-run homer, and pounded out 12 hits en route to an 8-7 win.

The Rockies trailed 4-1 before their fifth-inning eruption, with Troy Tulowitzki tying the game with a two-run double off Tribe starter Fausto Carmona with two out. Giambi then stepped to the plate and launched a Carmona offering into the bullpen in right-center field to put Colorado ahead to stay.

Cleveland did pull within a run on Shin-Soo Choo's two-RBI single in the bottom of the fifth, but the Rockies extended the margin later on by scoring on an Indians' error in the eighth.

Huston Street then closed things out with a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his 21st save of the season, enabling fellow reliever Matt Lindstrom to notch the win after he threw a scoreless sixth.

Tulowitzki finished 2-for-5 with three RBI, while Carlos Gonzalez collected three runs and scored three times for Colorado.

Travis Hafner belted a three-run homer in the first inning for Cleveland, which suffered its first loss in seven interleague games this season. Carlos Santana had three hits, including a solo homer, in defeat.

"Usually when you score this many runs you win," said Cleveland manager Manny Acta. "That fifth inning killed us. It's too bad, because Fausto was throwing the ball so good."

Carmona failed to make it out of the fifth and was charged with seven runs allowed on nine hits over 4 2/3 innings.

Despite Monday's result, Cleveland still owns a one-game edge on second-place Detroit in the AL Central standings after the Tigers fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers last night.

The Indians will attempt to bounce back behind Mitch Talbot, with the right- hander aiming to put an end to a personal three-start losing streak when he toes the rubber tonight.

Talbot was hit hard in his most recent outing, surrendering six runs and nine hits -- including a pair of homers -- before exiting after four innings at Detroit last Thursday. He was the victim of poor run support in his previous two defeats, as the Indians were shut out in both games.

The 27-year-old, who permitted a total of four runs over 11 2/3 innings in his two losses prior to Thursday's outcome, has been prone to the long ball as of late, having served up six homers in his three June starts.

Talbot will be taking on the Rockies for the first time and will be out to improve on an 0-2 record and an ugly 8.10 ERA in three home appearances this season.

Monday's win was only Colorado's second in seven all-time visits to Progressive Field, but the club did sweep a three-game series from the Indians when these teams squared off in Denver back in 2008.