The Colorado Rockies (12-15) overcame a very shaky outing by Ubaldo Jimenez to beat the Chicago Cubs (17-13) and Ryan Dempster Saturday in Tucson. Colorado scored three in the first with a walk, two singles and a Garrett Atkins home run.
Ubaldo's implosion led to a 6-4 deficit in the eighth inning. That's when the Rockies piled on 25-year-old Randy Wells (0-1) and Kevin Hart, accumulating seven hits, two walks and six runs to retake the lead. The comeback was punctuated by a two-out 3-run moonshot of a home-run by Chris Iannetta that turned a 6-5 deficit to an 8-6 lead.
Jason Grilli (1-0) pitched two shutout innings for the win.
Studs
Chris Iannetta: 2-for-4, 3-run HR, R, 4 RBI. DreamyTM just won't quit. His clutch 3-run home run came after battling to a full count.
CDI's spring average is now a cool .444. The Cubs did pilfer two bases on him, but one was a close call and the other was more on Jimenez.
Todd Helton: 2-for-3, 2 1B, RBI. Despite the modestly successful stat line, it should be noted Helton extended his consecutive at-bat hit streak to six with a monster line drive off the top of the right-center field wall. Reed Johnson played the carom perfectly and gunned Helton down at second. In any other park, tit would have been Helton's fifth home run.
The Offense: 10 runs, 15 hits, 2 HR, 2 2B, 2 3B, 3 BB. It was a day when everyone got in on the action. Other than Tulowitzki, every starter had at least a hit and two total bases. Jeff Baker, Dexter Fowler and Christian Colonel came off the bench to combine to go 3-for-4 with 2 runs and an RBI.
The MLB Bullpen: Toss out the line minor league emergency relief pitcher Franklin Nunez (0.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 K) and you have a solid appearance by the pen. Glendon Rusch, Jason Grilli and Huston Street combined for 4.1 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts and three base-runners.
Duds
Ubaldo Jimenez: 4 IP, 5 ER, 6 hits, 6 BB, HBP, WP. That, my friends, is an ugly stat line. Jimenez' control was off all day, as evidenced by his 3.25 game WHIP. He appeared to be rushing his delivery out of the stretch to me. It isn't surprising then that the wild pitch, plunked batter and all but one walk came while pitching out of the stretch. It could have been worse too. The Cubs stranded 21 runners.
Troy Tulowitzki: 0-3, BB, R, sac. That's actually not too bad. I'm stretching here to give Ubaldo some company. In fact, Troy was flashy defensively and even pulled off a magnificent drag bunt for a sacrifice that would have been a single if not for a great play from Mike Fontenot. Still, Tulo is the only starter today that didn't record a hit, and as Rox Girl pointed out in the game thread today, he's the only underachieving projected starter this spring. In fact, he's the only one hitting under .300. It's about time for TULo time.
Notes
Garrett Atkins did his best impression of Todd Helton, hitting a home run over the CF batters-eye in his first at-bat back from injury. Atkins left in the sixth inning as planned....Ian Stewart started in RF for the first time and showed no difficulty defensively...Matt Murton was the only Rockie not to reach base in an official at-bat...Clint Barmes had two IF singles and a steal of third. Willy who?....Colorado was 3-for-4 in theft attempts, including steals by Barmes, Stewart and Spilborghs an out by Iannetta.
Rowbot Roll Call: The Lodo Magic Man, Tom (RFTN), Fiftytwoeighty, pierzynskirules, WolfMarauder, PioneerSkies, Redhawk, 4thturn, jrockies, djmbluemoon, Rox Girl, moomacher, smokinrox, holly96