MINNEAPOLIS — This is no slow start anymore, no quirky April and May stat waiting to melt away in the heat of June and July.
It’s 2 1/2 months into the season and Aaron Cook, the winningest pitcher in Rockies history, can’t buy a “W” on the road.
Cook’s latest misadventures with pillow mints came Tuesday night when he took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning and left with one out and a 5-2 deficit. Your final score from Target Field: Minnesota Twins 9, Rockies 3.
So what’s the drill with Cook on the road? When you figure it out, give Jim Tracy a call. Collect. The Rockies manager will give you free tickets, maybe even a limo to the game.
“I don’t have an answer for you, I really don’t,” Tracy said. “It’s as big a question to me as it is to all of you guys. The surprising part for me is he comes out on the road and, with the heavier air, this is when he should thrive.
“We got a glimpse of it in the first couple of innings. That was as deep and heavy a sinker as he’s had in any of his starts. But just like that, it was gone.”
Yes, five of the Twins’ six hits in the fourth inning were groundballs that found holes. And, yes, Michael Cuddyer’s groundball down the third-base line hit the bag, sending it skirting under Ian Stewart’s glove for a two-run double.
But Cook walked two hitters in the inning and fell behind Cuddyer 2-0 before the fateful pitch that produced the Twins’ first run. Which brings us to the bottom line: Cook has only one quality start in eight roadies. He’s 0-4 with a 7.38 ERA away from Coors Field, having allowed 56 hits and 22 walks in 39 innings.
“I felt like I pitched good tonight,” Cook said. “I was getting the ball down on the ground, which is a huge step from where I’ve been on the road with balls in the gap and over the fence. I can’t make them hit it at our guys.”
Who knew, back in the day, that the Rockies would have a pitcher who needs to pitch at Coors Field to be effective? But that’s exactly the case with Cook. He’s 2-0, 2.62 at home, with five quality starts in five outings.
Before this season, Cook was 32-25 on the road — pitching on some shaky teams, no less — with a 4.01 ERA. And now he leaves his command at DIA.
“In the first few innings, there was a part of me that said this could potentially be one of those Aaron Cook seven- or eight-inning, 75- or 80-pitch games,” Tracy said. “But unfortunately in the fourth inning . . . the floodgates opened.”
The Rockies went into the game with the National League’s best interleague record since 2006. Unfortunately, they were playing the Twins, whose 57-22 mark since 2006 is the best in the majors.
A little victory for the Rockies? They hit several balls hard, including a home run off Carl Pavano (7-6, 3.92) by none other than Todd Helton. So, Helton was asked, could this be the beginning of the end of your issues?
“It’s a process,” Helton said. “Some days it feels good, and some days it doesn’t. I was lucky enough to get one today. I find it, lose it, find it, lose it.”
Kind of like Cook, depending on where he’s pitching.
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
