San Francisco – The 2007 Rockies are like that temperamental first car you bought as a teen-ager.
They’re the shiny convertible jalopy that looks cool, but leaks a quart of oil a week. Or the muscle car with 350 horsepower that often stalls at the stoplight.
Case in point, their 9-7 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night at AT&T Park.
While the Rockies’ offense roared to life, and baby-faced reliever Alberto Arias was stellar in his major-league debut, earning the victory, starting pitcher Taylor Buchholz didn’t make it through the fourth inning.
And setup man Manny Corpas, the Rockies’ best reliever so far this season, almost saw the wheels come off in the eighth. He gave up three consecutive singles, including one to Pedro Feliz that drove in Ray Durham, cutting the Rockies’ comfortable three-run lead to a precarious two-run edge.
Clearly, these Rockies aren’t a smooth machine. But at least they got the “W,” just their fifth on the road this season.
After hitting only .261 in April, the lowest team batting average for a full month in franchise history, the Rockies cranked out 14 hits Tuesday.
Streaking Matt Holliday led the barrage, ending up only a triple short of the cycle. He singled and scored in the first, hit a solo homer in the third and drove in three more runs with a bases-loaded double in the Rockies’ five-run fourth.
Holliday, the No. 5 hitter for most of the season, moved up to the No. 3 spot in the lineup, switching places with struggling Garrett Atkins.
Holliday, hitting .395, extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games, the longest active streak in the National League. The Rockies’ longest streak last season was 14 games by Atkins, from May 31 to June 15.
While Holliday continues playing like an all-star, right fielder Brad Hawpe is finally showing life at the plate. He went 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIs, lifting his average to .277.
Arias, 23, struck out the mighty Barry Bonds in the fifth and induced a key double play in the seventh. He gave up no runs and one hit, and walked one in 3 2/3 innings.
Facing the Giants slugger didn’t seem to faze Arias.
“No, I wasn’t nervous,” he said. “I went out and tried to pitch like I do in the minor leagues.”
He is the third Rockies reliever to win a game in his major-league debut, joining Ryan Speier (1995) and Marcus Moore (1993).
Arias made a fan of Rockies manager Clint Hurdle.
“That was a very impressive outing, something we really needed,” Hurdle said. ” For his first outing in the major leagues, that was as good as I’ve seen out of the bullpen.”
Rockies closer Brian Fuentes collected his fifth save of the season, striking out two and getting big help from a diving catch by Holliday in left field.
Bonds went 0-for-4 and remains stuck at 742 career homers.
The starting pitchers, Buchholz and the Giants’ Russ Ortiz, were equally ineffective. In 3 1/3 innings, Buchholz gave up six runs on eight hits. Ortiz also departed after 3 1/3 innings, drawing a smattering of boos from San Francisco fans who saw him surrender eight runs on nine hits.
Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
