Aaron Cook offered no excuses, only an explanation.
“There is nothing wrong right now, I’m feeling better than I have in a month and half, so that’s not an issue,” Cook said Wednesday afternoon after the San Francisco Giants dealt him his earliest exit of the season and cruised to a 9-2 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field.
“It was just a matter of missing location today, and big-league hitters make you pay when you miss your location,” Cook said.
Meanwhile, lefty Barry Zito pitched like the Zito the Giants were expecting when they gave him a seven-year, $126 million contract in December 2006.
On paper, Wednesday’s matchup favored the Rockies. The Giants, going nowhere in a hurry, had dropped five in a row and seven of their last eight. Though Zito had been pitching much better of late, his 16 losses led the majors.
But baseball is a funny game and Wednesday the joke was on the Rockies. They not only lost, National League West-leading Arizona rallied to beat St. Louis 4-3 — leaving the Rockies six games behind the Diamondbacks with just 21 to play.
“Today was definitely a big game for us and I didn’t uphold my end of the bargain,” said Cook, who was attempting to win his 17th game and tie the franchise record held by Jeff Francis, Pedro Astacio and Kevin Ritz.
Last month, Cook skipped a start because of stiffness in his lower back. He has already pitched a team-high 191 innings, and since Aug. 4, he has pitched 5 2/3 innings or less in five of his six starts. Before that, he pitched at least seven innings in five of his six starts in July.
But the right-hander insisted fatigue had nothing to do with the Giants lashing his misplaced sinker to all corners of the ballpark.
“There were no issues whatsoever,” Cook said.
Nonetheless, Cook got the hook after just three innings, the Giants pounding him for six runs and 10 hits. He gave up two runs and four hits in the first inning, set the Giants down in order in the second, then gave up four runs and six hits in the third. The big blow was Travis Ishikawa’s two-run double over right fielder Ryan Spilborghs.
“There were a lot of balls up, a lot of balls left over the plate today,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “Left-handers were 10-for-18 against (Cook) today. What we are going to have to do is look at some videotape and find out if he’s still on line. The biggest problem today, more often than not, was that his best sinkers were running off the plate.”
Zito — winner of three of his last four games, but now just 9-16 overall — pitched eight crisp innings of four-hit ball. He gave up two runs, including a solo homer in the fifth by Clint Barmes. Zito struck out five and walked two.
“He was throwing pitches for strikes, he spotted well and did a good job keeping us off-balance,” Troy Tulowitzki said after his 0-for-3 day. “He looked like the Zito of old. His curveball is one of the toughest to hit, especially when he’s throwing it for strikes.”
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
Upcoming pitching matchups
Today:
Off day
Friday:
Astros’ Brian Moehler (10-5, 4.02 ERA) vs. Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (9-12, 4.19), 7:05 p.m., FSN
Saturday:
Astros’ Roy Oswalt (13-9, 3.91) vs. Rockies’ Jeff Francis (4-8, 5.14), 6:05 p.m., KTVD-20
Sunday:
Astros’ Wandy Rodriguez (8-6, 3.76) vs. Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (8-7, 5.23), 1:05 p.m., FSN
