MILWAUKEE — Ubaldo Jimenez smiled at the picture on his computer, showing it off to teammates. His new dog will be a great companion. But on an unseasonably cool Tuesday, the pup served as a metaphor for a remarkable road trip.
It was a bulldog, aptly named Goliath.
No sticks, no bats or bags of stones are taking the Rockies out these days. They won their sixth consecutive game, edging the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 at raucous Miller Park.
This didn’t come as easily, not like the embarrassing sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Rockies trailed 2-0, they were striking out too much. (They finished with 12.) But tough pitching from Jason Hammel and crisp defense, kept them in handshake proximity of victory.
So when the opportunity came, like so many times in the past week, they dropped the hammer. After back-to-back doubles by Troy Tulo-
witzki and Carlos Gonzalez, Milwaukee starter Braden Looper tired in the seventh inning.
A walk to pinch-hitter Seth Smith brought Todd Coffey sprinting — literally — in from the bullpen. Moments later, he walked off in disgust after Dexter Fowler doubled and Clint Barmes lined a sacrifice fly to center field to shove the Rockies ahead 3-2.
Matt Daley and Manuel Corpas formed a bridge to Huston Street, who recorded his 10th save in 11 opportunities.
Credit Hammel (3-3) for letting the Rockies hang around.
Like the Rolling Stones, Hammel does his best work on the road. He cemented his rotation spot with his first back-to-back solid outings.
After Craig Counsell led off the game with a triple, later scoring on a groundout, Hammel settled down as he began to keep his fastball down in the zone. Mat Gamel delivered a home run in the second, and that was it.
Hammel finished with a respectable line — six innings, two earned runs — extending an encouraging run by the rotation (2.53 ERA during the winning streak).
