• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Francis shines, hitters flash home-field power to lift Rockies

Jul 29, 2007 - 5:07 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Every so often, the Colorado Rockies revisit their power-hitting days at Coors Field.

Jeff Francis tossed a stellar seven-plus innings and the Colorado Rockies used three home runs to cruise to a 6-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Francis (11-5), who had struggled with a 4-3 record and a 4.73 ERA at home this season, handcuffed the Dodgers, yielding two runs and seven hits over 7 2/3 innings, just one out short of matching his season high.

The lefthander set down the first nine batters he faced before allowing a drag bunt by Rafael Furcal to open the fourth.

"The five-run lead helped," Francis said. "When you've got a runner on in the fourth with a five-run lead, you're not too worried about him. You can concentrate on the batter. They scored one and I was able to get out of it. It's a big step."

Francis has not suffered a loss since June 8, going 6-0 despite a 4.68 ERA over that time.

Matt Holliday blasted a two-run homer off Dodgers starter Brett Tomko (2-8) just over the right field wall in the first inning to give the Rockies an early 2-0 advantage and Troy Tulowitzki added with his own two-run home run in the second to spark a three-run frame, helping the Rockies jump ahead, 5-0, after two frames.

"Holliday gets us off right out of the jump," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We (also) had a big swing of the bat from (Tulowitzki)."

Garrett Atkins hit his 15th homer in the seventh and finished just a double short of the cycle for the Rockies, who ran to 16-3 at home in games in which they hit two or more homers.

"Guys are stepping up and (Atkins) stepped up big tonight," Hurdle said.

Tomko surrendered five runs and seven hits with four walks over six frames for Los Angeles, which fell to 4-7 over its last 11 contests.

"I thought early on he missed some pitches," Dodgers manager Grady Little said. "He could have been overthrowing there a little bit in the first couple of innings and had to pay for it. But he settled in after that and gave us a few more innings.

"He'll be back out there again in a few days and get it back on track. We felt like he did turn it around there to finish those four innings; we just didn't have the bats to catch up."

Jeff Kent had two hits and extended his on-base streak to a major league-best 37 games for the Dodgers, who saw their season-best streak of nine straight games with a homer came to an end.