The Colorado Rockies leaned on their young players on Thursday night and were able to salvage a game against the defending World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals on the strength of Alex White's solid start, along with some firepower from rookie shortstop Josh Rutledge. They look to build some momentum on Friday night, as the San Francisco Giants come to town.

Colorado sends Jonathan Sanchez (1-8, 8.32) to the mound to face his former club for the first time in his career. Sanchez has not improved his season since coming to Colorado via trade, though his strikeout numbers have trended up in the first two starts. He has allowed at least five earned runs in five of his past six starts.

San Francisco comes to Denver in the midst of a skid, having lost seven of their last eight games. Still, the Giants maintain a slim 0.5 game lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West division lead. They send Ryan Vogelsong (8-5, 2.22) to the mound. Vogelsong continues his career renaissance, and has allowed just a single earned run in each of his last three starts.

These two teams will meet 13 more times during the 2012 season.

This game can be seen on ROOT Sports and heard on 850 KOA at 6:40 p.m. MT.

For more on these teams, visit Rockies blow Purple Row and Giants blog McCovey Chronicles. Head over to Baseball Nation for more news and notes around the league.