Chacin Dominates in Series Opener Against Giants

     Jhoulys Chacin was marvelous on the mound on Friday night and he kept the Giants hitters off balance all night long. The Rockies held onto the lead for Chacin and beat the Giants 4-1. He finished the game going eight innings allowing just three hits, no runs, three walks and struck out three batters. This was easily the best game of the season for Chacin and he could have been left out there to finish the game off as he was only at 95 pitches after those eight innings. He really never was under much pressure throughout the game and allowed just one hit after the fourth inning of the game. He cruised to the finish line and left his team in the drivers seat for the victory and hopefully will break them out of the slump that they have been in both offensively and defensively. Chacin is now 7-3 on the year and he lowered his season ERA to 3.59. Rex Brothers came into the game in the ninth inning to finish the game. Brothers gave up a lead off home run to Buster Posey which ended his streak of innings pitched without allowing a home run. He then struck out the next three hitters but Hunter Pence reached when he struck out and the ball got away from Wilin Rosario. He got a weak ground ball to end the game and sure upt the Rockies 4-1 victory.

     Michael Cuddyer was able to extend his hitting streak tonight when he took Barry Zito deep for a two run home run in the third inning. He took the pitch from Zito over the auxiliary scoreboard in right field. He has now hit safely in 25 straight games and he has reached base safely in 44 straight games. Both of those are team records which he continues to extend each night. The Rockies scratched out 13 hits against the Giants, but they were only able to push across 4 runs and they did not score in the game after the fourth inning. They did not hit very well with runners in scoring position and if it were not for the help of home runs by Michael Cuddyer and Wilin Rosario, then this would have been a much different game. It was good to see the bats come alive but the same problem is still evident and the Rockies are not coming up with the big hits that they need to pull away from teams. Either way the Rockies still got the victory on the night.

     Game two of the series will be an afternoon affair on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 2:10 PM Mountain time. The Rockies will send Jorge De La Rosa to the mound to face off against Matt Cain for the Giants.