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Holliday homers twice to help Rockies beat Zito

May 13, 2007 - 6:53 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Matt Holliday finally broke through against Barry Zito and made sure the lefthander did not enjoy his stay in Colorado this time around.

Holliday hit two home runs - his first two hits off Zito - and drove in four runs and Jeff Francis pitched eight strong innings as the Colorado Rockies posted a 6-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.

Holliday, who had been 0-for-10 against Zito, got the scoring started early with a three-run blast to left in the first. Holliday, who has reached safely in 23 of his last 29 games, homered again off Zito in the fifth - his eighth of the year - for a 5-2 lead.

Despite being hitless against the former Cy Young Award winner, Holliday was not concerned about his slump.

"I didn't feel too terrible about it," Holliday said about the slump. I was 0-for-10, but I had gotten some good swings on him. Some popups that I missed and things, but more importantly, this was a big win for us."

Zito(3-4), who earned two of his three wins against the Rockies, allowed four first innings runs, which was his undoing.

"Holliday just made some good cuts," Zito said. "You can't make bad pitches to a guy like him. I thought I threw some good pitches to him. You can't make mistakes to a guy like him, especially at Coors Field."

Willy Taveras walked to leadoff the first and Troy Tulowitzki followed with an infield single. Holliday then hit a 1-0 pitch over the left-center field fence for a 3-0 lead.

"I thought Barry had some good stuff tonight," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "Matt is obviously a good hitter and he got to him tonight."

Two batters later Jeff Baker followed with a solo shot - his second of the season - to make it 4-0.

Jeff Francis (2-4) was able to relax with a lead and pitched his longest outing of the season. He allowed just two runs and four hits in eight innings to earn his first home win of the year. The lefthander retired the last 10 batters he faced before being relieved by closer Brian Fuentes.

"It was nice having the lead early in the game especially when you look over at the other guy you are pitching against," said Francis, who earned his first win since April 9. "A four-run lead is never safe here but it was good to have during the game."

"I think he's repeating his delivery," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said about Francis, who struggled earlier this season. "He's on-line more efficiently. His fastball command has improved dramatically. He got 10 ground-ball outs tonight. The balls were down in the zone which was the key.

Fuentes pitched a scoreless ninth for the Rockies, who are in the midst of a 10-game homestand.

Barry Bonds, who went 0-for-3, walked and scored on a double by Pedro Feliz in the second that cut the lead to 4-1. Bonds remains 10 homers shy of Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755.

Ray Durham hit his third homer of the season for the Giants, who have lost three of four.