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Hernandez pitches, hits Diamondbacks past Rockies in rubber game

May 17, 2007 - 11:21 PM DENVER (Ticker) -- The third time turned out to be a charm for Livan Hernandez.

Hernandez pitched seven strong innings and Chris Young continued his hot hitting as the Arizona Diamondbacks topped the Colorado Rockies, 3-1, in Thursday afternoon's rubber game of a three-game series.

Hernandez (4-2) had pitched well against the Rockies in two previous starts this season, allowing four earned runs and 11 hits in 13 innings, but was not involved in the decision on either occasion.

The Dominican righthander was at the top of his game Thursday, taming the Rockies at unfriendly Coors Field, a place where he entered 2-3 with a 7.35 ERA in 11 lifetime starts.

"I felt good, they have a tough lineup and hit a couple balls very good, but I tried to make the right-handers hit the ball to right field," Hernandez said.

Hernandez allowed just a run and four hits in this one. He retired Yorvit Torrealba on a groundout to escape a bases-loaded jam in the fourth and also helped at the plate with a single and a run in the third.

"You've got righthanders coming and you have to make sure the pitch is down, and I tried to get the guy to swing at a bad pitch," Hernandez said. "I made some pitches to Torrealba, I got a 3-2 fastball down the middle and he hit a slow grounder."

Brandon Lyon worked a scoreless eighth and Jose Valverde worked around a two-out single in the ninth for his 14th save in 16 chances.

Young, who had a seven-game hitting streak snapped on Wednesday, was involved in each of Arizona's first two runs against Colorado starter Josh Fogg (1-5). He led off the game with a double and scored on a two-out single by Eric Byrnes for a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Young followed a leadoff single by Hernandez with a base hit. After Orlando Hudson drew a walk to load the bases between two strikeouts, rookie Miguel Montero reached on an error by rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to double the Diamondbacks' advantage.

Young finished 2-for-5 and has gone 16-for-36 in his last nine games to raise his average from .200 to .262.

"He's been one of our go-to guys here of late, and since he's been in the leadoff spot his at-bats have gotten a lot better, his confidence seems to have elevated in the last few weeks and he's a guy we look to," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said.

The Rockies halved the deficit in the fifth, as Omar Quintanilla scored from second on a two-out bloop single to center by Tulowitzki. Quintanilla led off the frame with a base hit and advanced to second on a one-out sacrifice by Willy Taveras.

Arizona got an insurance tally in the eighth. Hudson led off with a double against Jeremy Affeldt and scored on a two-out ground single to right field by pinch hitter Tony Clark.

"You want to try to get as many runs as you can for your pitcher," Hudson said. "No pitcher is going to go out and have Cy Young days everyday."

Fogg pitched well but lost his first career decision to the Diamondbacks after winning five straight. The soft-tosser yielded just two runs - one earned - and seven hits in seven innings. He entered with a 4.38 ERA against Arizona.

"I felt good out there, and I was able to keep them off-balance for the most part," Fogg said. "I've had two good starts in a row, just came up a little short in both of them. That's the way this game goes. I just got outpitched."

Tulowitzki finished with two hits and two walks as Colorado fell to 3-4 on its 10-game homestand.