Houston – A week ago, the Rockies embarked on a six-game road test against St. Louis and Houston, the resident bullies of the National League Central.
They returned home bloodied, bruised and no longer in first place, but still on their feet.
“I was hoping, coming into today, for a 3-3 road trip. That would have been a positive,” left fielder Matt Holliday said. “At 2-4, we didn’t kill ourselves or anything, and we didn’t play terrible. But at the same time, I thought 3-3 would have been a nice record heading back.”
With Astros left-hander Andy Pettitte on the mound Sunday, there was little chance of that, especially with Rockies bats in the middle of a mid-spring siesta.
The Houston veteran baffled the Rockies in a 3-0 win at Minute Maid Park, throwing a complete-game, three-hit shutout. It was his first shutout in an Astros uniform, and his first for any team since June 30, 2002, when he did it against the New York Mets as a member of the Yankees.
“I don’t expect a shutout, because I don’t have a whole lot of those in my career,” Pettitte said after throwing the fourth shutout in his 12 seasons in the majors. “It’s nice to get it. I usually give up a lot of hits, so they’re not going to come real often. And I probably wouldn’t have gotten one today if we wouldn’t have had some great defensive plays.”
Pettitte walked just one, struck out seven and was never in trouble.
“I saw an established pitcher make (119) good pitches,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “He put the ball pretty much where he wanted to all day long. He’s just hard to hit.”
The Rockies’ loss, coupled with San Diego’s 9-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs, dropped the Rockies out of first place in National League West for the first time since April 24. The San Diego Padres, winners of 14 of their past 15 games, have a one-game lead over the Rockies.
In losing two out of three in Houston, the Rockies scored a grand total of four runs. In two losses at St. Louis, the Rockies scored six times. On the six-game trip, Colorado hit .217 (43-for-198).
That lack of offense is the Rockies’ biggest concern as they begin a three-game series tonight against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field.
“We weren’t able to hit a whole lot on the last five games of this trip,” Hurdle said. “We faced some pretty good pitching and we were missing a lot offensively, so we pretty much got what we deserved.”
But Rockies starter Jeff Francis deserved a better fate Sunday. His command wasn’t nearly as sharp as it had been in four previous starts, when his ERA was a cool 1.01, but Francis kept the Rockies in the game.
He lasted seven innings, giving up three runs on six hits. What hurt Francis were solo home runs by Lance Berkman in the first and Morgan Ensberg in the fourth.
“The bottom line is that we wanted to win and I lost it in the first inning,” said Francis, who’s typically his harshest critic.
The Dodgers series begins a key stretch in which the Rockies face NL West rivals in 12 of their next 15 games.
“There are a lot more games to go,” said right fielder Brad Hawpe, who scratched a single off Pettitte. “Now we’ll go home to play the Dodgers, a team in our division, and try to make up some ground.”
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
