PHOENIX — He is their new suit. The nice haircut. The muscle car in the driveway.
When Ubaldo Jimenez is on the mound, the Rockies feel good about themselves. It doesn’t matter how they played the previous day or who they are facing.
“He can dominate anybody when he’s on,” shortstop Troy Tulowitzki said.
Jimenez put on a display Tuesday that makes you wonder who really has the strongest arm in Denver’s history. Petulant Jay Cutler might think he throws harder than John Elway, but he’s no match for Jimenez.
Arizona’s Dan Haren wasn’t. And all he did was throw one of the best games of his life in a 3-0 loss to the Rockies at Chase Field.
The roof was open, but the breeze was provided by the errant swings. Jimenez and Haren combined to strike out 17 batters. Haren received a ruler across the hand for a single mistake, a hanging slider that Tulowitzki deposited into the left field seats in the fifth inning for his second home run. He didn’t hit his second homer last season until June 29.
Nobody was going deep against Jimenez. Making contact was a challenge. He made the Diamondbacks look like the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic. The raw numbers are telling: seven innings, 107 pitches, four hits, eight strikeouts.
Dig deeper and the performance was even more significant. Jimenez continued to morph before the Rockies’ eyes. He threw a straight fastball at 98 miles per hour, a sinker at 92, a big curve and a changeup that suffered an identity crisis, acting like a split-finger by diving dramatically.
He’s had this arsenal before, but what made it different in the Rockies’ first win in Arizona since April 13 last season, a drought spanning seven games, was the mix. He used his curveball to set up his fastball for outs, and the fastball to set up the changeup for strikeouts. The game’s most critical at-bat provided a memorable snapshot.
With runners at first and second in the sixth, after a conference with pitching coach Bob Apodaca, Jimenez ran the count to 2-2 against Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero. On back-to-back high heaters – both reaching 97 miles per hour – Montero swung so hard you could practically hear his back pop above the groans of the 26,637 paid fans in attendance.
The Rockies didn’t post their first shutout win last season until June 3. That it came with Jimenez in Arizona is not a shock. He owns a 1.31 ERA at Chase Field with 24 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings.
A flawless relief effort leaves the Rockies in position to win their first series at Chase Field since Sept. 2, 2007. Manuel Corpas mauled the Diamondbacks in the eighth, and Huston Street recorded his first save as a Rockie when a flyball disappeared into center fielder Dexter Fowler’s glove.
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com
