Rockies Zero In on a Coors First

Good pitching tends to be contagious, and the Colorado Rockies are proving it can happen even at Coors Field.

Denny Neagle gave the Rockies their fifth consecutive strong start, limiting Pittsburgh to three hits in eight innings and the Rockies extended their winning streak to five games with a 6-0 victory Wednesday night.

Colorado starters are a combined 5-0 with a 0.78 earned-run average in the last five games--all at Coors.

“These guys are pitching lights out,” said Clint Hurdle, who improved to 5-0 as the Rockies’ manager. “They seem to be one-upping each other right now.”

Colorado, which blanked the Pirates, 10-0, Tuesday night, produced consecutive shutouts for the first time in the eight-year history of Coors Field.

It was only the 18th shutout overall at Coors Field, the hitter-haven that opened in 1995.

New York 7, Arizona 1--Steve Trachsel pitched into the seventh inning, and Jeromy Burnitz hit a three-run homer as the Mets won their sixth in a row with a victory at Phoenix.

Joe McEwing was two for three with a run-scoring triple for the Mets, who have outscored the Diamondbacks, 17-2, and outhit them, 28-6, in the first two games of the series.

Because of a lower back strain, Randy Johnson, 6-0 in April, missed a scheduled start for the first time in nearly two years. His replacement, Todd Stottlemyre, gave up six runs and nine hits in 31/3 innings.

San Diego 4, Chicago 3--The Padres overcame two homers by Sammy Sosa at San Diego and sent the Cubs to their season-high fifth consecutive loss.

Bobby Jones (3-1) defeated the Cubs for the ninth consecutive time, giving up two runs and six hits in 52/3 innings. He struck out a season-high seven and walked two in improving to 11-1 in 15 career appearances against Chicago.

Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect ninth for his 321st save with the Padres, a major league record for most saves with one team. Dennis Eckersley set the old record with Oakland from 1987 to ’95.

Atlanta 3, Milwaukee 1--Tom Glavine (5-1) allowed three hits over eight innings, his ERA rising to 0.93 because of Jose Hernandez’s solo homer in the eighth at Milwaukee.

The Braves, whose 12-15 record in April was their worst since 1990, gave Glavine a three-run cushion with homers by Chipper Jones and Marcus Giles off Ruben Quevedo (1-3).

Montreal 5, Houston 4--Vladimir Guerrero homered twice at Houston and drove in four runs to overcome a three-run homer by Lance Berkman, his major league-leading 11th.

Guerrero, who leads the majors with 32 runs batted in, extended his hitting streak to 11 with his third two-homer game this season and the 16th of his career. He has nine home runs this season.

San Francisco 2, Philadelphia 1--Reggie Sanders hit a tiebreaking home run off Ricky Bottalico (0-2) in the seventh at San Francisco, sending the Phillies to their seventh loss in eight games.

Barry Bonds, missing from San Francisco’s starting lineup because of sore legs, didn’t start for the fourth time in 27 games but entered in the eighth as part of a double switch. Bonds was on deck when the Giants made the final out of the eighth.

St. Louis 6, Florida 4--Tino Martinez hit his first two homers of the season, and Travis Smith (1-0) pitched six impressive innings at St. Louis for his first career victory.