Blake Street’s big boppers were either on the bench or icing down aching body parts. But that didn’t stop Aaron Cook and the Rockies from beating the Mets 4-1 this afternoon at Coors Field.
Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe, Clint Barmes and Troy Tulowitzki are all on the disabled list. Garrett Atkins, his suffering from neck spasms, couldn’t play for a second straight game.
But the Rockies had Cook on the hill and Seth Smith in the batter’s box. It was all they needed.
Cook pitched the first complete game by a Rockies pitcher this season and their first since Aug. 29, 2007.
He gave up just four hits, all singles, struck out three and walked one. Cook’s super sinker induced the Mets into 16 groundball outs. Cook improved to 7-3, broke a two-game losing streak, and once again carried the Rockies with his sturdy right shoulder.
Smith bashed a three-run homer in the fourth, making the 42,123 fans at Coors Field forget, for a moment or two anyway, that they were watching a team crippled by injuries.
Smith’s timing for his first major-league homer couldn’t have been much better.
Mets starter John Maine had baffled the Rockies for 3 1/3 innings, allowing no hits while striking out six. But in the fourth, Todd Helton drew a walk and Ryan Spilborghs reached when Jose Reyes booted a groundball at short. That set the stage for the Maine-Smith showdown. After fouling off two pitches, Smith drove a 2-2 pitch deep into the Rockies’ bullpen beyond right-center field. With just one hit, the Rockies were ahead 3-1.
They extended the lead to 4-1 in the sixth. Helton, mired in a slump that left him hitting just .271 to start the day, led off with an opposite-field double down the left-field line. The Rockies packed the bases with a walk by Smith and an Ian Stewart single. Helton scored on Yorvit Torrealba’s sacrifice fly.
Maine pitched six innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on three hits. He struck out eight. The Mets lost for the sixth time in their last seven games.
The Rockies concluded their homestand with a 5-4 record. They open a 10-game road trip Monday night in Philadelphia.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
