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Pirates aim for third straight win

Aug 20, 2007 - 1:50 PM Pittsburgh (52-70) at Colorado (63-60) 9:05 pm EDT

DENVER (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates will try to carry over their recent success at home to the start of a seven-game road trip.

The Pirates seek their third consecutive win when they open a four-game series at the Colorado Rockies on Monday.

Pittsburgh is coming off a series victory over intrastate rival the Philadelphia Phillies over the weekend. It was capped by Sunday's 8-4 victory, as Matt Kata ignited a seven-run seventh inning with a pinch-hit, three-run double.

Pittsburgh's Matt Morris (7-8, 4.65 ERA) goes in search of his first win since beating the Toronto Blue Jays on June 11. The righthander gave up five runs and seven hits in six innings of a 10-8 loss to the New York Mets on Wednesday.

On May 26, Morris surrendered six runs and eight hits over seven frames in a setback to the Rockies while with the San Francisco Giants. In 12 career starts, he is 5-5 with a 5.17 ERA all-time vs. Colorado.

Rookie Ubaldo Jimenez (2-2, 5.28) gets the call for the Rockies, who have dropped three of their last four games. Jimenez was brilliant his last time out, blanking the San Diego Padres through six innings with a season-high nine strikeouts in Wednesday's 3-0 win.

The Dominican righthander will be making his first career outing against the Pirates, which is just 19-28 at Coors Field and was swept in a three-game series here in June.