After nearly a month of struggles, Aaron Cook had a discussion with manager Clint Hurdle and pitching coach Bob Apodaca about relaxing on the mound.
It proved to be just what Cook needed. Well, that and a little run support.
Garrett Atkins hit a three-run homer, Ryan Spilborghs had three RBIs in his return to the majors and the Rockies gave Cook some rare run support in an 10-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday night.
“They just told me to relax, stay in control out there and that put things in perspective for me – just go out there and worry about pitching, make the pitches and when guys are on base, just slow it down that much more,” Cook said.
He did and it worked.
After allowing four or more runs in five of his previous eight starts, Cook pitched eight solid innings, working through traffic in just about every inning. The right-hander had the Cubs chasing his sinker all night, getting 12 groundball outs, and allowed two runs despite giving up 10 hits.
Cook gave up a run in the third inning on John Mabry’s RBI single and another in the sixth, when Jacque Jones led off with a 438-foot homer to center – his 19th – to cut Colorado’s lead to 7-2. But that was it off Cook, who pitched into the eighth inning for the fifth time this season.
“His demeanor was a lot better,” Hurdle said. “For whatever reason, he was getting wound up and he was taking it out on the mound getting wound up, and it wasn’t helping the situation by any means. A sinkerball pitcher is a touch-and-feel guy and if you overthrow it, it doesn’t sink. It was a step in the right direction for him.”
The Rockies had scored three runs or fewer in six straight games to match a team record and hadn’t helped Cook (8-10) much all season, giving him 4.07 runs per nine innings – sixth-worst in the majors.
Colorado got off to a good start in this one and kept it going, getting 12 hits – one from every position player.
