Colorado Rockies 2 San Diego Padres 3 (May 31, 2006)
Padres win 3-2.
The Padres and Rockies faced off in San Diego in the rubber match of the series. The Rockies took the first game 5-0 with excellent pitching by Jason Jennings. The Padres followed up with a near no-hitter by Chris Young, winning 2-0. With both teams at 27-25, the stage was set for the Padres to finish their homestand on a positive note or for the Rockies to salvage a win during a horrible road trip (2-7).
26 year old Clay Hensley started for the Padres and threw 6 solid innings to get the win. He gave up 2 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3.
For the Rockies, Jeff Francis threw 95 pitches over 5 and 2/3rds innings, striking out 7 and walking 2. He only allowed 4 hits, but his defense failed him in the 6th allowing 3 runs, 2 earned.
[edit] Scoring Summary
Fourth Inning
The Rockies got the scoring started in the 4th with Todd Helton's 4th home run of the year making it 2-0. The hit drove in Ryan Spilborghs who had reached on a walk.
Sixth Inning
The 6th inning saw the Padres come back and take the lead. Rob Bowen started the inning, reaching first on a walk and took second on a bunt single by Eric Young. Francis got the next two batters out and looked to be on his way to getting out of trouble when Josh Bard nailed a 1-0 pitch to left field. Matt Holliday tried to one-hop the ball but it got away from him allowing both Bowen and Young to score. Mark Bellhorn followed with a double that scored Bard making it 3-2 Padres.
That would be all San Diego would need as the trio of Scott Cassidy, Scott Linebrink and Trevor Hoffman finished off the last three innings allowing no runs.
[edit] Padres Notes:
Mark Bellhorn hit his 7th double and hit in his 17th RBI.
Josh Bard picked up his 15th RBI.
Clay Hensley improved to 4-3 with the win and lowered his ERA to 3.82.
Trevor Hoffman pitched the ninth striking out 2 to pick up his 11th save.
[edit] Rockies Notes:
Todd Helton hit his 4th home run of the year and picked up RBIs 17 and 18.
Clint Barmes picked up his 11th double of the season going 2-4.
Brad Hawpe went 2-4 to improve his batting average to .326.
Jeff Francis fell to 3-5 and raised his ERA to 3.80 on the year.
