ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Rockies arrived in California at 3 a.m. Friday with sleepy eyes and tired bodies. They were, after all, coming off a draining 4-hour, 48-minute, 10-inning loss to the Red Sox on Thursday night at Coors Field.
But with heavy doses of caffeine and plenty of moxie, they hung tough, and eventually won, at Angel Stadium late Friday night, 4-3 in 11 innings.
Jonathan Herrera delivered an RBI single off Francisco Rodriguez to score Chris Iannetta in the 11th after Iannetta’s two-out double, for the winning run. Manuel Corpas relieved in the bottom of the 11th and worked out of a jam for the save.
The Rockies tied the game 3-3 in the eighth against reliever Fernando Rodney, who’s usually untouchable at Angel Stadium. Herrera led off with a bloop single to right and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Carlos Gonzalez slapped a single to right to score Herrera. That snapped Rodney’s streak of 27 consecutive successful save chances at home.
Rockies starter Jeff Francis cruised into the sixth, holding a 2-1 lead. His only hiccup had come in the second when he gave up two singles and a sacrifice fly to Jeff Mathis.
But the Angels began zeroing in on Francis in the sixth. Kevin Frandsen lined a double and scored easily on a scorching double to left- center by designated hitter Torii Hunter, tying the game 2-2.
In the seventh, with the incessant image of Anaheim’s wild- eyed “Rally Monkey” dancing on the Jumbo-Tron, the Angels took a 3-2 lead, chasing Francis. Mike Napoli led off with a single, moved to second on a sweet bunt by Jeff Mathis and scored on Reggie Willits’ single. Rafael Betancourt, the Rockies’ ultra-deliberate reliever, came in to snuff out the rally.
The Rockies took a brief lead in the fifth. Iannetta, getting a rare start, waited on a 78 mph slider by Anaheim starter Jered Weaver and blasted it beyond the left-field wall for a two-run homer and a 2-1 Rockies advantage. It was Iannetta’s first homer since a 10th-inning, walkoff shot against the Mets on April 14 at Coors Field.
Ian Stewart — finding his groove again after a brutal June swoon — led off the inning with a sharp single up the middle.
The Rockies, who struck out 16 times, created their own Santa Ana winds with all of their swings and misses. Weaver, the right-handed ace and possible all-star pick, struck out 11 in his seven innings. It was his second straight game with 11 K’s. He whiffed Herrera, the Rockies’ leadoff hitter, three times.
Weaver made Colorado look especially helpless in the early going. He struck out seven in the first three innings. Dating to his last start in Chicago against the Cubs, he had whiffed 12 of the 19 batters he faced.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1720 or psaunders@denverpost.com
