Colorado Rockies' Chad Bettis posts 2nd straight strong road outing for Triple-A Albuquerque

Chad Bettis allowed only three hits in seven innings for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes, who earned a 5-3 win over the Tacoma Rainiers in Pacific Coast League action on Wednesday.

Bettis surrendered a pair of solo homers but largely pitched without traffic on the basepaths, which always helps mitigate the damage of deep flies. Bettis walked two batters and struck out four while allowing two runs, lowering his ERA to 4.15. The 25-year-old right-hander has allowed only three earned runs on 11 hits in 12⅔ innings on the road.

The Isotopes got after Tacoma starter Mike Kickham early, scoring four runs on only two hits in 2⅔ innings. Kickham issued five walks and was hurt by a two-run, first-inning homer off the bat of Kyle Parker, who struck out in his other three plate appearances. Brandon Barnes also went deep for the Topes, who managed only four hits of their own.

Dustin Garneau hit a two-run double and drew a walk. He's hitting .357/.471/.714 in the early going. Jairo Diaz notched a strikeout and worked around a walk in a scoreless ninth en route to his second save.

Other games

Double-A New Britain: W 10-8 (8-6)

The Rock Cats finished off a 6-1 homestand by churning out 14 hits. Noel Cuevas led the charge with three knocks, including a triple, and three RBI, raising his average to .326. Trevor Story (.367) added a pair of hits and two RBI and Tommy Murphy (.378) added a hit and a walk. Michael Tauchman and Will Swanner both homered as part of two-hit performances.

Shane Carle improved to 3-0, albeit with his worst start of the season thus far. Carle, acquired by the Rockies in exchange for Rob Scahill during the offseason, allowed five runs on 10 hits in 5⅔ innings but made Portland work for everything it got. Carle didn't walk a batter and struck out three. He has yet to walk a batter in 19⅓ innings spanning three starts in 2015.

Steven Martano will have more on this game shortly.

High-A Modesto: L 11-8 (5-9)

The Nuts, who are arguably the most talented minor league team in the organization, haven't been able to get good pitching and are compounding that issue by playing poor defense. It was more of the same on Wednesday as Modesto committed four errors behind a pitching staff that allowed 15 hits and seven walks.

Raimel Tapia and Wilfredo Rodriguez had three hits apiece in the loss. The latter drove in four runs. Michael Benjamin added a pair of extra-base hits in the Nuts' 11-hit, six-walk offensive performance.

Unfortunately, Johendi Jiminian surrendered five hits and four walks in just three innings. He did strikeout three batters and was tagged for three unearned runs of the six total he allowed.

Low-A Asheville: L 6-1 (6-7)

Wes Rogers, who is now hitting .347, had a couple of hits out of the leadoff spot in the loss. Forrest Wall and Yonathan Daza added two hits, including an extra-base knock, apiece.

Zach Jemiola was hurt by the long ball in taking his first loss of 2015. The 21-year-old righty pitched well otherwise, striking out four and walking none in six innings. Jemiola has allowed just 12 hits and two walks in 18 innings this season. He's striking out batters at a decent pace, too, racking up 14 Ks.