It was a good night for the big red, but not for the big redhead.
The St. Louis Cardinals rocked Rockies ace Aaron Cook for one inning Thursday, but that was enough to send the Rockies to their second straight defeat and take the luster off their recent seven-game winning streak.
The Cardinals, cheered on by swarms of loud and proud red-clad fans nesting at Coors Field, coasted to a 7-3 victory.
The Rockies again failed to win a home series as the clubs split the four-game set. Colorado has captured just one home series this season, taking two of three from Arizona in early April. Since then, they are 0-5-3 in home sets. And with a 12-15 record at Coors this season, home-field advantage is a misnomer.
“When I was in the minor leagues, our Double-A manager told us that if we won every home series and split on the road, we’d have a good winning season,” Cook said. “So at some point, we do have to win home series.”
The Rockies continue their 10-game, 11-day homestand tonight when they host Cincinnati. They need to strike back and prove that their winning streak wasn’t a mirage.
“We have to play better at home, I’m aware of that,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We had two chances to win this series and we didn’t get it done. We let a series get away. I think that will give us a little bit more fire to go out and get it done (today).”
St. Louis’ decisive four-run sixth inning produced a steady stream of Redbird baserunners. So Taguchi coaxed a walk from Cook, then Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen singled, loading the bases and setting the table for Juan Encarnacion. He belted Cook’s elevated fastball into right-center for a three-run double. Encarnacion then scored on a single by Gary Bennett. All of the Cardinals’ hits came with two outs.
Cook entered the game riding a four-game winning streak, cresting on a complete-game five-hitter Saturday in San Francisco. Thursday, he gave up just one run on two hits through the first five innings, but the sixth-inning meltdown left him miffed.
“I just got the ball up in that one inning, but unfortunately it only takes one inning to lose a game,” he said. “Three inches down from where those pitches were and they’re groundballs to the shortstop or second baseman. But that’s baseball.”
The Cardinals got a command performance from starter Brad Thompson. He pitched 7 1/3 innings – the longest outing of his major-league career – scattering seven hits and yielding solo runs in the first and second innings.
“His sinker got better as the game went along,” said Rockies center fielder Ryan Spilborghs, who wrapped a single off Thompson in the first, stole second and scored on Matt Holliday’s single up the box. “He did a good job mixing it up. By the third time we saw him, he was throwing off-speed pitches for strikes.”
St. Louis manager Tony La Russa rested slugger Albert Pujols, who hit a three-run homer in the Cardinals’ 8-4 victory Wednesday. It didn’t matter. The Cardinals not only took advantage of Cook’s bad inning, they jumped on sloppy Rockies play in the eighth.
Scott Spiezio ended up on third base when Brad Hawpe misplayed his single in right field. Rolen’s double off reliever Ramon Ramirez scored Spiezio, then Rolen advanced to third on Ramirez’s wild pitch and scored on Bennett’s line-drive double down the left-field line.
Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
