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Hudson goes for Arizona in opener with Rockies

Jul 22, 2011 - 2:50 PM (Sports Network) - It's been a while since Daniel Hudson has tasted defeat.

The Arizona Diamondbacks hope that doesn't happen any time soon and will send the streaking Hudson to the mound tonight against the NL West-rival Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series from Chase Field.

Hudson is 7-0 with a 3.04 earned run average in his last 12 starts and hasn't lost since May 12 at San Francisco. His previous defeat in the desert was also against the Giants on April 15. Hudson went the distance his last time out in Sunday's 4-1 home win over the Dodgers and allowed one run and five hits with three strikeouts. He improved to 10-5 in 20 starts with a 3.56 ERA and is 6-2 in 10 starts at Chase Field.

The Old Dominion product started the 2011 season with a loss at Colorado on April 2, when he allowed three runs and six hits in six innings of his team's 3-1 defeat. Hudson is 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA in two career starts against the Rockies.

While it seems Hudson is the ace of the staff, rotation mate Ian Kennedy is coming off of his team-leading 11th win of the season in Thursday's 4-0 blanking of the Milwaukee Brewers in the finale of a four-game series. Kennedy threw seven shutout innings, struck out five, scattered four hits and got three home runs from the offense to help the D'Backs earn a split of the set.

"He's got a little deception on his delivery, kind of throws a little across his body," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said of Kennedy. "He spots his fastball outstanding, not afraid to pitch inside, mixes in a nice slider, a few curve balls at times, a little cutter. So he gets creative out there with what he sees, but really he pitches off his fastball and spots it well."

Kelly Johnson hit a two-run homer and both Justin Upton and Miguel Montero went deep for Arizona, which is 4-3 on a 10-game homestand and pulled within four games of idle San Francisco for the lead in the National League West.

Johnson was playing second base after Stephen Drew suffered a fractured right ankle in a slide at home plate during Wednesday's game against the Brewers. Drew underwent successful surgery Thursday and is out for the remainder of the season.

"Stephen will bounce back," D'Backs manager Kirk Gibson said. "He's resilient. It's going to be tough, just like whenever you have surgery like that. I'm sure the recovery won't be fun. You'll get bored with it, you'll get frustrated because you want to play, but you'll just have to keep on pace so you have a rapid recovery, because you don't want to push things."

Colorado is 10 games off the lead in the NL West and will begin a nine-game road trip tonight against the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Padres. It had a two- game winning streak stopped and settled for a four-game split with the Atlanta Braves following Thursday's 9-6 loss in the series finale at Coors Field.

Jhoulys Chacin did not record a decision after he allowed five runs in 4 2/3 innings, while Matt Reynolds was dealt the loss in relief, yielding three runs in just one-third of an inning. Reynolds was on the mound during Atlanta's four-run seventh inning in which Brooks Conrad cracked a solo home run. The Rockies blew a 4-0 lead on Thursday.

"We scored all those runs early and had a chance to win three out of four games," said Rockies manager Jim Tracy. "But we pitched terribly here and that will lose you games all the time."

Carlos Gonzalez homered for the Rockies before leaving in the fifth inning with a balky right wrist. Gonzalez has been bothered by wrist injuries in the past, dating back to last August while fouling off a pitch against the Giants. He aggravated the injury a few weeks ago during a collision with the center- field wall and an MRI revealed a strain, according to the club's Twitter account. CarGo will be re-evaluated prior to tonight's game.

Dexter Fowler had two RBI and Seth Smith finished with two hits and drove in a run in a losing effort. The Rockies will send winless starter Aaron Cook to the mound and the oft-injured hurler is 0-5 with a 5.83 ERA in seven starts this season. Cook took the loss in a 4-3 setback versus Milwaukee on Sunday, allowing three runs and eight hits over 4 2/3 innings. The righty has permitted 16 runs over his last four starts.

Cook is 0-2 in three road starts this season and 5-4 with a 5.46 ERA in 22 career games, 20 of which have been starts, against the Diamondbacks., who have won six of nine meetings with Colorado this season.

Arizona is 6-3 versus the Rockies this season.