The Colorado Rockies picked up a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres on the strong effort of their pitchers. Ubaldo Jimenez dominated the four innings he threw, striking out four and allowing no hits or walks. He threw 31 strikes in his 46 total pitches. He's the team's Opening Day starter, even if it isn't official yet.
Felipe Paulino, recently moved to the bullpen, threw a scoreless inning of relief and was then followed by two scoreless innings of relief by Clayton Mortensen Eric Stults also kept the Padres off the board.
The Rockies put their first two runs on the board in the second inning when Willy Taveras drove in Jordan Pacheco and Hernan Iribarren on a single. Jason Giambi added a two-run homer in the sixth inning.
However, the Rockies sweated things out in the top of the ninth. With two outs, right fielder Brian Rike failed to field the ball properly, which allowed a run to score and Eric Patterson to wind up on third base. Matt Daley, who was in to finish the game, then allowed a two-run home run to Jesus Guzman. But Daley was able to get Aaron Cunningham to fly out to center fielder Jeff Salazar.
Perhaps the highlight of the game was Jonathan Herrera's nice defensive play. Troy Renck has the description:
Herrera play he dove, fully outstretched, and snagged a high hop...Impressive stuff
Wilin Rosario, a catcher and one of the team's top prospects, came in as a pinch hitter and popped out in foul territory. Iribarren was on base and went on the hit-and-run, but was already on second when the out was recorded. He was out at first.
This was a split-squad game and the Rockies will play the Diamondbacks later tonight. Greg Reynolds faces Zach Duke.