By the time the Broncos opened training camp last year, the Rockies were running a fade pattern to irrelevance.
Not this year.
Proof came Saturday night when 46,039 fans turned out to watch the Rockies beat the National League West-leading Dodgers 6-2 behind a crafty performance by Jeff Francis and power strokes from Matt Holliday, Troy Tulowitzki and Garrett Atkins.
“It’s pretty simple. I just think a lot of guys are just playing better baseball this year,” said Atkins, who finished a double shy of the cycle after hitting a single in the third, a triple in the fifth and a solo homer in the seventh. “Tulo has been a big help for us, and Holliday has been huge. Every time we need a big hit, it seems like he’s doing it.”
Usually when the Rockies play Los Angeles, they come down with a bad case of the Dodger blues. The Rockies entered Saturday’s game with a 6-19 record against the Dodgers during the past two seasons. But they knocked the Dodgers off their pedestal Saturday night. L.A.’s loss, coupled with Arizona’s win over Atlanta, dropped the Dodgers into a virtual first-place tie with the Diamondbacks. The Rockies are 4 1/2 games out of first.
Give Francis the bulk of the credit. The lanky lefty improved to 11-5, mixing a precision fastball, a deceptive curve and plenty of guile. In 7 2/3 innings, he allowed two runs on seven hits. He struck out five and issued no walks. The Rockies have won eight of his past nine starts and are 15-7 when he takes the mound.
“Getting ahead in the count was the big key,” said Francis, who sailed through the first three innings before Jeff Kent hit an RBI single off him in the fourth.
In the seventh, Francis pulled off an escape act worthy of Houdini. He gave up a leadoff single to Kent, a double to Nomar Garciaparra and another single to Andre Ethier, yet the Dodgers managed just one run. Francis struck out Matt Kemp, jammed Mike Lieberthal, causing him to foul out to Todd Helton, and ended the inning by getting pinch-hitter Russell Martin to pop out to second.
“I thought that was the defining moment of the game,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “It was a nice step forward for Jeff in his continued development as a frontline pitcher.”
Francis said he’s learning how to minimize the damage in a potentially flammable inning.
“I think in a situation like that, I have to be able to execute my pitches,” he said. “Now I try not to throw the nastiest pitch, because I don’t have those pitches. It’s best for me to stay within myself and try to execute.”
It helped that Francis had a comfort zone with which to work. Holliday sailed a two-run liner into the right-field stands in the first inning off starter Brett Tomko for his team-leading 19th homer. Holliday also made a fine running catch in the fifth, tracking down Lieberthal’s drive to deep left-center. Holliday made a tough catch look graceful and easy.
“He’s worked real hard and it’s one of the things he’s continued to challenge himself about,” Hurdle said. “We don’t take for granted that we are leading the league in defense. It comes from hard work and we want to hold on to that.”
Tulowitzki put Colorado up 4-0 in the second when he smashed a 402-foot, two-run shot off Tomko into the left- field bleachers for his 12th homer.
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
