Kile Continues to Disappoint

Darryl Kile, the Colorado Rockies’ off-season free-agent acquisition after winning 19 games at Houston last season, extended his streak of frustration Wednesday in a 6-3 loss to the San Francisco Giants.

It was the seventh defeat in a row for Kile (5-10), whose leads the NL in losses. The Colorado starter gave up six runs and 10 hits in six innings, walking four and striking out three.

San Francisco starter Kirk Rueter (8-3), who leads the Giants’ staff in victories, settled down to pitch five scoreless innings after giving up three runs and four hits in the first. The victory was his fifth in his last six decisions.

“I started thinking that with Darryl on the mound and a three-run lead, it was in the bag,” Colorado’s Dante Bichette said. “But the Giants are amazing. A different guy does it every day.”

Rich Aurilia hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the sixth inning to lead the Giants’ comeback.

It was San Francisco’s second consecutive victory after losing a season-high five in a row. The skid had come after Jeff Kent, their second baseman and cleanup hitter, went on the 15-day disabled list a week ago because of a sprained right knee.

“I just think we’ve got our momentum back,” Aurilia said. “We’re still missing Jeff, but we’ve shown the last couple days that everyone is going to contribute in this lineup with him out. I really don’t think anyone cares who it is as long as somebody steps up and drives in the big runs.”

The turnaround comes just in time for another National League West showdown with the front-running Padres, who overtook the Giants for the division lead by sweeping a three-game series last weekend at San Diego.

“We just wanted to try to get back on track,” Rueter said. “We had a little rough spot over the weekend. Hopefully this weekend will be different with them coming to our place, and we can pick up a couple games on them.”

Colorado has lost 18 of its last 28 games against San Francisco and has scored only 16 runs during Kile’s seven-game skid.