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Rockies rally leads to victory over Giants

Sep 3, 2007 - 11:26 PM DENVER (Ticker) -- Chris Iannetta's two-run triple capped off a seven-run third inning as the Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-4, on Monday.

Brad Hawpe added a two-run single during the third-inning rally and starter Jeff Francis pitched well into the sixth inning as the Rockies snapped a three-game win streak by Giants starter Matt Cain.

Francis (15-6), who pitched a complete-game shutout against the Giants during his last start on Wednesday, scattered nine hits and three runs over 5 2/3 innings. The lefthander struck out four and walked two as the Rockies (71-66) sit five games back of the San Diego Padres (76-61) in the National League West Division and four games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks (76-63) in the wild card.

"The overall energy of the game tells you that you need to go win," Francis said. "The good feelings you get when you get a big out and guys get the big hit, you know it. Right now, we're trying to win games."

Two relievers bridged the gap to closer Manny Corpas, who pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his 13th save of the season.

The Rockies took control by scoring five runs in the third inning after two outs.

Francis doubled to right with one out and advanced to third on a single by Willy Taveras. Kaz Matsui plated Francis with a base hit to right and Matt Holliday followed with a sacrifice fly to center field, plating Taveras.

Cain, who is tied for fourth in the NL in walks, gave up back-to-back free passes to Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins, loading the bases for Hawpe. The Rockies right fielder capitalized with a two-run single, bouncing Cain from the game.

"He had good stuff, but that big inning killed us," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Francis had that huge at-bat and then he just couldn't get out of it. He just couldn't get that last out and get back to the dugout."

Cain (7-14) surrendered six runs and five hits. The righthander, who was 4-1 over his last five starts, struck out five and walked two.

"Balls were maybe just off the plate, and they weren't going to swing. It ended up turning counts into their favor and I had to start going after guys," Cain said. "They put balls in play and they did their job. They were taking pitches that were close and were working counts."

Rookie Troy Tulowitzki greeted reliever Pat Misch with a base hit, scoring Atkins as Hawpe advanced to third. Iannetta finished the scoring with a two-run triple, as the Rockies ended the inning with a 7-1 lead.

"I got some pitches, put some good swings on them and it paid off today," Iannetta said.

"It was a very impressive inning for us and very rarely do you win a game where you score all your runs in one inning," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "It was a big inning and a good inning and it was enough for us to win the game."

Bengie Molina opened the scoring in the second inning with a solo home run, his 15th of the season. Francis allowed two more runs in the sixth inning as Pedro Feliz and Kevin Frandsen each had RBI singles.

Randy Winn narrowed the lead to 7-4, hitting his ninth home run of the season off reliever Jeremy Affeldt in the seventh inning. The Giants didn't get any closer as the Rockies won for their fourth time in five games.