Houston – Minute Maid Park squeezed the life out of Jason Jennings and the Rockies again Friday night.
The Astros routed the Rockies 12-2, the seventh straight time they have defeated the Rockies at Minute Maid. Since the park opened in 2000, the Rockies are 3-16 there.
For the first time this season, Colorado owns a three-game losing streak.
Jennings, so brilliant in a shutout over the Astros in Denver last Saturday, appeared on track to finally exorcise his own Minute Maid demons, where he was 0-2 with an 11.81 ERA heading into Friday. Through five innings Jennings gave up just two hits and had the Astros reeling.
But Jennings (2-3) lost a crucial showdown with Houston cleanup hitter Morgan Ensberg in the sixth, and then watched it all fall apart. With two out and two on, Jennings and Ensberg battled to a 3-2 count before Ensberg smashed a three-run homer to left, giving the Astros a 4-1 lead.
Jennings was gone before the sixth was over, having given up five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. Rockies relievers Scott Dohmann, Jose Mesa and Tom Martin crumbled, too, giving up a combined seven runs and seven hits.
For the Astros, who pounded out 15 hits, the win was a measure of revenge for being swept at Coors Field last weekend. Starter Fernando Nieve (2-1), who gave up career highs in runs (five) and hits (nine) in a loss at Colorado last Sunday, got the victory.
For the Rockies, this was a what-if game. What if Jennings had gotten a called third strike on Ensberg before the crucial homer? What if the Rockies had supported Jennings with some early runs instead of leaving nine runners stranded through the first five innings? Instead, the Rockies collapsed and suffered their worst defeat of the season.
The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the third when Todd Helton led off with a single, Garrett Atkins was hit by a pitch and Matt Holliday drove in Helton from second with a sharp single to left-center.
It was Holliday’s team-leading 34th RBI of the season.
The Rockies’ other run came in the ninth on a solo homer by Luis Gonzalez, his second of the year. Craig Biggio’s two-out solo homer in the third tied the game at 1-1 and snapped Jennings’ streak of 14 consecutive scoreless innings.
Footnotes
Struggling pitcher Sun-Woo Kim is scheduled to make a start for Colorado Springs on Saturday. Kim struggled Monday in his last rehab start, giving up seven runs, six hits, a homer and three walks in five innings. … First baseman Ryan Shealy was optioned to Triple-A Colorado Springs on Thursday.
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
