DENVER—Colorado reliever Brian Fuentes issued an intentional walk with two outs in the ninth inning to load the bases, then retired Adam Dunn on a grounder that preserved the Rockies’ 6-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night.
The Diamondbacks rallied within a run in the ninth on Stephen Drew’s RBI single. With runners on second and third, Fuentes walked Conor Jackson on purpose to bring up Dunn.
Dunn, acquired from Cincinnati on Monday and tied for the major league lead with 32 home runs, grounded out to shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on a 3-2 pitch.
Brad Hawpe hit a two-run homer in the eighth that put Colorado ahead 6-4. Ian Stewart and Clint Barmes also homered for the Rockies, who had lost three straight and five of six.
Chad Tracy homered for Arizona, which began the day with a one-game lead over Los Angeles in the NL West.
It was 4-all when Chris Iannetta led off the Colorado eighth with a double. After pinch-runner Cory Sullivan moved to third on a sacrifice, Hawpe connected against Jon Rauch (4-3) for his 19th home run.
Taylor Buchholz (5-3) pitched the eighth inning and Fuentes held on for his 22nd save in 26 chances.
Colorado starter Jeff Francis gave up three runs on six hits and remained winless since June 18. After posting 17 victories last season for the NL champions, he has only three wins this year.
Arizona scored twice in the seventh to tie it at 4. Chris Snyder led off with a double, and Manny Corpas relieved Francis. Tony Clark had an RBI grounder, and a double by Drew and a single by Chris Young produced another run.
The Rockies got to Doug Davis early. Barmes led off the first inning with a walk, Willy Taveras had a bunt single and Matt Holliday singled for a 1-0 lead. Iannetta’s grounder drove in another run.
Stewart led off the second with his seventh home run to make it 3-0.
Tracy made it 3-1 when he led off the fifth with his eighth home run of the year. Barmes hit his sixth homer leading off the bottom half.
Notes:@ Rockies LHP Glendon Rusch will pitch Thursday in place of Aaron Cook, who will miss the start with lower back stiffness. … Rockies INF Garrett Atkins missed his second straight game with strep throat. … Taveras stole his 52nd base of the season, one short of Eric Young’s franchise record set in 1996. … Drew extended his hitting streak to 15 games.
