The 28,910 patrons in attendance at Coors Field on Sunday afternoon viewed two masterpieces for the price of one.
One artist, four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux, wore Dodger blue. The other, sinkerball specialist Aaron Cook, wore the home whites of the Rockies. Together, they painted the longest 0-0 game in Coors Field history.
The tie was finally broken in the 10th inning on a walkoff, bases-loaded single to right by Troy Tulowitzki off Los Angeles reliever Hong-Chih Kuo. The slicing single down the right-field line scored Matt Holliday and gave the Rockies a 1-0 victory, halting their seven-game losing streak.
“I think it’s important for us to finish the season strong and show that we still have some fight in us,” said Tulowitzki, who pumped his fist as he ran down the first-base line. “It was a meaningful win.”
For those who enjoy the fine art of a pitchers’ duel, it was a memorable day at the ballpark.
“You can’t help but notice that you are in a pitchers’ duel at the time,” Cook said. “You just try to do everything you can to keep your team right there.”
Cook pitched eight scoreless innings, giving up eight singles. With his trusty sinker to the outside of the plate, he coaxed 17 groundball outs, including double plays in the second and fifth innings. He also used an effective slider to set up his sinker.
Despite his brilliance, Cook failed to win his 17th game, which would have tied him with Kevin Ritz (1996), Pedro Astacio (1999) and Jeff Francis (2007) for the most victories in a Rockies season. Cook said that shortfall didn’t bother him.
“I just have to keep going out there and do what I did today,” Cook said. “Hopefully, we can end the season with eight or nine or 10 wins and feel really good about going into the offseason.”
Midway through the game, a stealth fighter jet flew over LoDo, eliciting a buzz from the crowd. That was appropriate, because when Maddux is on, he has always been baseball’s best stealth pitcher. Though his fastball never topped 86 mph Sunday, he continually pounded the strike zone, keeping the Rockies off-balance. He pitched seven innings of scoreless, two-hit baseball until manager Joe Torre pinch hit for him in the eighth.
Maddux struck out three, walked none and needed just 68 pitches, prompting Rockies manager Clint Hurdle to quip: “I’ll appreciate it tomorrow. When you are going through it, it’s like you’re sitting in the dentist chair. He can do things with the baseball that are very special and very unique.”
It was the 11th time in his career that Maddux pitched at least seven innings while allowing two hits or fewer and no runs.
“He was really tough, his stuff was moving really good, as it always does, but he was definitely hitting his spots,” Tulowitzki said.
Maddux, perfect through 4 1/3 innings until Garrett Atkins laced a single through the left side, downplayed his performance.
“I just wish we had got the win,” said Maddux, who remained tied with Roger Clemens with 354 career wins, eighth on the major leagues’ all-time list.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
TODAY: Padres at Rockies, 6:35 p.m., FSN
It’s test time for Greg Reynolds (2-6, 6.60 ERA). The rookie right- hander can get a head start for spring training by pitching well in the waning days of September. Reynolds, the club’s No. 1 pick in 2006, had 11 mixed-results starts early in the season before he encountered shoulder troubles and spent most of the season in Triple-A. Reynolds, who was solid in relief Wednesday at Atlanta, made his most recent big- league start July 4. The Padres start rookie lefty Wade LeBlanc (0-1, 5.40). He possesses a good fastball and an effective changeup. In his last start, he allowed one run over six innings, that run coming on a solo homer by the Dodgers’ Manny Ramirez.
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
Tuesday:
Padres’ Shawn Estes (2-2, 3.82) vs. Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (10-12, 4.18), 6:35 p.m., FSN
Wednesday: Padres’ Josh Geer (2-0, 3.18) vs. Rockies’ Jeff Francis (4-10, 5.01), 1:05 p.m., FSN
Thursday:
Off day
Friday:
Diamondbacks’ Max Scherzer (0-2, 2.80) vs. Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (8-8, 5.38), 6:05 p.m., FSN
