|
Welcome:
Login to StatFox |
Register |
Login to FoxSheets
|
The Leading Logic In Sports Handicapping |
|
          |
|
|
|
|
 |
DENVER (Ticker) -- Chris Iannetta sticks with a good thing, even
if it's broken.
Iannetta hit a two-run home run with a cracked bat to cap a
sixth-inning rally that powered the Colorado Rockies to a 5-3
victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday with the same
bat he cracked two innings earlier.
"I think the bat was already broken. I think I broke it on that
base hit up the middle," Iannetta said. "You can't really tell.
Sometimes it's hard to see the cracks."
Iannetta finished with two hits and three RBI, Jeff Baker hit
two doubles and drove in a run and Garrett Atkins added two hits
with an RBI double as the Rockies ended a four-game slide.
"Not everybody can break a bat and hit a home run. I tip my hat
to him," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said of Iannetta. "He is
starting to realize his strengths and he is also starting to
realize what happens when he gets out."
Brian Fuentes struck out the side in the ninth to collect his
15th save of the season and 100th of his career - all for
Colorado.
"It wasn't something I aspired to do when I got into baseball,"
Fuentes said of being a closer. "It's one of those addictive
things. And once you get a taste of it, that's all you want to
do."
In the decisive frame, Baker started the rally with his second
double and scored on Atkins' double to tie the score at 3-3.
One batter later, Iannetta belted his 10th home run - a two-run
shot - over the left field wall, even though the pitch from
Pirates starter Paul Maholm (6-6), a changeup, broke his bat.
"I wasn't looking changeup, but I don't go up looking for a
particular pitch," Iannetta said. "I just went up there looking
to hit, and he left it out."
Ubaldo Jimenez's fastball registered in the upper 90s, but he
struggled with control of his breaking ball and found some
trouble in the third.
The Pirates opened the scoring on a wild pitch. Adam LaRoche
crushed a double to the wall in left-center field, scoring two
runs to make it 3-0.
Jimenez (5-9) regained traction, retiring seven straight. He
worked through seven frames with four strikeouts and five hits
allowed.
"I was trying to slow everything down and forget about that one
inning," Jimenez said. "I just kept going."
After Maholm retired the first nine batters, Baker's double off
the scoreboard in right field plated Willy Taveras. Iannetta
hit a two-out double to score Baker and cut the deficit to 3-2.
Maholm gave up five runs and eight hits with seven strikeouts
over six innings.
"He was throwing the ball alright," Pirates manager John Russell
said. "The guy's two-run homer, the bat shattered. Obviously
he caught it pretty well, but that hurt."
|
|
| | |
|
|