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Tulowitzki fuels Rockies past Astros

Jun 7, 2007 - 11:49 PM DENVER (Ticker) -- With a tough at-bat, rookie Troy Tulowitzki completed an improbable comeback for the Colorado Rockies.

Tulowitzki singled to left field to cap a three-run ninth inning as the Colorado Rockies defeated the Houston Astros, 7-6, on Thursday.

Tulowitzki, who had two-run home run in the sixth, plated pinch runner Jamey Carroll with the decisive run as the Rockies won the rubber game of the three-game series. Houston righthander Dan Wheeler (0-3) took the loss, allowing three runs on four hits and a walk in one-third innings

"It was huge, big win for us," Tulowitzki said. "I was hoping to win the game. I've been in that situation before, I've been successful and I've also failed sometimes. I was just trying to be a tough out or put together a tough at-bat."

With the Astros nursing a 6-4 lead to start the inning, Colorado's Matt Holliday slapped an RBI single to right field to plate Kaz Matsui. Holliday, who had two doubles and two singles, extended his hitting streak to 15 games.

"It's probably timing, and my posture is better," Holliday said. "I'm allowing myself to recognize pitches a little bit better right now than I have. Right now, we have a lot of confidence that we are going to score some runs late in games."

Todd Helton followed with a sinking liner, but Houston left fielder Carlos Lee could not come up with cleanly, putting runners on the corners with no outs in the ninth.

After a walk to load the bases, Brad Hawpe's sacrifice fly to right field tied the game at 6-6.

"It's huge, we haven't won a series in how long," Wheeler said. "We put ourselves in a position to win the series, it's just terrible to go out there and give up a two-run lead."

Rockies manager Clint Hurdle saw it from a different perspective.

"They were good at-bats. Guys were focused, they were battling, they were aggressive and laid off pitches when they needed to," he said. "It was good from start to finish in the ninth."

Jeremy Affeldt (3-1) pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the win.

Before the ninth-inning theatrics, Houston's Roy Oswalt looked poised to run his record in the Rocky Mountains to 3-0. The 29-year-old righthander settled down after Willy Taveras' leadoff homer to effectively work his way out of jams, allowing four runs on nine hits through six innings.

"He did a good job of holding them down, he certainly did not have his best stuff today," Astros manager Phil Garner said.

Brad Ausmus' two-run double in the fifth inning gave Oswalt and Houston a 6-2 cushion, but Tulowitzki's blast in the sixth cut the deficit in half.

With the game tied at 1-1, Lance Berkman's two-run homer highlighted a three-run third inning for Houston. Lee followed with a double and Luke Scott's triple brought him home for Houston.