The good news? Greg Smith was able to maintain his strikeout-per-inning pace from Spring Training. The bad news? He was victimized by the free pass and the long ball as the Brewers seemingly capitalized on every legitimate scoring opportunity they were given on their way to victory. Smith allowed five runs on four hits in five innings, walking two and striking out five. However, he allowed a three-run homer to Casey McGehee in the first inning to give Milwaukee a 3-1 lead, then served up a solo shot to Rickie Weeks in the fifth to put the Brewers back up by two after the Rockies had cut it to a one-run game.
After the Manny Corpas and Matt Daley were able to escape traffic, the Rox got back within one on a Carlos Gonzalez RBI groundout. Then, in came Matt Belisle to try to keep the Rockies close. He was unable to do so, as he imploded on the mound, allowing four baserunners (three hits and a walk) - two of which came around to score. In the ninth, Ian Stewart led off with a triple (his third hit of the night) off of Trevor Hoffman and scored on a pinch-hit RBI groundout by Seth Smith. Sandwiched in between was a popout by Clint Barmes and a two-out bloop single by CarGo. That set the stage for Jason Giambi to face Hoffman in a battle of grizzled vets. Hoffman recorded his 592nd save after striking out Giambi with his trademark changeup.
Stewart finished the game 3-for-4 with a double, triple, and home run. Gonzalez, Todd Helton, and Barmes also recorded multi-hit games for the Rockies.
WPA Heroes: Stewart (.215), Barmes (.122), Daley (.045)
WPA Zeroes: G. Smith (-.289), Troy Tulowitzki (-.157), Brad Hawpe (-.130)
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Tomorrow, the Rox will send Aaron Cook to the mound, as he'll face former divisional foe Doug Davis. Game time is 11:10 AM MT.
GO ROCKIES!