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Holliday, Rockies rally to defeat Marlins

Aug 3, 2007 - 4:14 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- After being held down by a series of Florida pitchers, Matt Holliday and the Colorado Rockies finally broke through.

Holliday hit a game-tying double and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Atkins as the Rockies rallied to beat the Marlins, 4-3, on Thursday.

Kaz Matsui had two hits and scored twice for Colorado, which has won four of its last five games.

Trailing, 3-2, to start the eighth, Matsui led off with an infield single off Armando Benitez (2-7) and came all the way around to tie the game on Holliday's shot into the gap in right-center field.

"It was good for us to be able to regain the lead and turn it over to our eighth and ninth inning guys," Holliday said. "That's what it's all about. It's a big hit for the team. Obviously, any time you can help the team win, it's a big hit."

Holliday, who took third on the throw home in an attempt to get Matsui, scored one out later on a sacrifice fly by Atkins to make it 4-3.

"I was thinking the same thing the whole time," Atkins said. "Just try and get a strike and try and hit the ball in the air and score Holliday. I knew I didn't have to hit it too deep and he scored pretty easily. I ended up hitting it pretty good."

The blown save was the fifth of the season for Benitez, his third since returning to the Marlins in May.

"He (Holliday) hit a hanging slider," Benitez said. "Hey, what can I do? He got me today."

LaTroy Hawkins (2-5), the third of five Rockies pitchers, allowed two hits in the seventh inning to record the win.

"When you come in in that situation it's like a crapshoot whether you're going to get the win or not," Hawkins said. "It's good that we can come in the next inning and score two runs and get the lead."

Jorge Julio pitched a scoreless eighth, before Manny Corpas worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to earn his eighth save in 12 opportunities.

"We did our job tonight," said Hawkins of the Rockies bullpen. "We went out there got timely outs and it (turned out to be) the key to the ballgame."

Florida had taken a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third when Josh Willingham drilled a 2-1 pitch from Rockies rookie starter Jason Hirsh over the left field wall to put the Marlins ahead. It was Willingham's 16th homer.

Hirsh, who was making his first start in over a month, went 5 1/3 innings, yielding three runs, six hits and four walks. The 25-year-old righthander, who tied his season-high with eight strikeouts, had been on the disabled list since July 2 with a sprained right ankle.

"Jason battled, he gave us a chance to win the ballgame," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "He'd probably like to have two pitches back. He spun two balls and left them over the plate and they hit them out of the ballpark."

Florida had held down Colorado for most of the night despite some strange circumstances in the fifth inning.

Marlins rookie starter Rick VandenHurk allowed a walk and a single in the top of the fifth to put runners at first and third with one out. Manager Fredi Gonzalez came out to get the 22-year-old after he had reached the 100-pitch mark, including 65 for strikes.

"Obviously you want to go as long as you can," VandenHurk said. "But I threw a lot of pitches in the first inning, so I couldn't go far in the game. ... 100 is a lot of pitches for 4 1/3 innings."

VandenHurk allowed two runs, four hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings.

In his place was fellow rookie Renyel Pinto, who proceeded to strike out Matsui before throwing a strike to Holliday. However, after that pitch, Pinto bent over to try to touch his toes. Gonzalez and the team trainer immediately came out to the mound to talk to Pinto, who then left the game with a left shoulder strain.

"I felt a pinch after I struck out Matsui," Pinto said. "I hope it's not serious."

The club said Pinto would be re-evaluated on Friday.

After Matt Lindstrom replaced Pinto with runners on the corners, Willy Taveras attempted to steal second base but was gunned down by catcher Miguel Olivo to end the frame.

"Using that many pitchers is tough duty for the bullpen two nights in a row," said Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez, who used four relievers the night before in a 4-3 win vs. the Rockies. "We had some opportunities to add on (some runs). We just didn't do it."

The Rockies had taken an early lead in the first when with two outs, VandenHurk walked two batters before yielding an RBI single to Atkins to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.

A half-inning later, however, the Marlins took the lead after Hanley Ramirez walked and Uggla belted 1-2 pitch from Hirsh over the left field wall for a 2-1 advantage. It was Uggla's 22nd blast, five shy of his career high set in 2006.

Colorado tied the score in the third when Matsui hit a one-out single to right, stole second, and scored on a base hit to right by Holliday.

The Marlins have lost their last three series.