TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -No thin Colorado air was needed for the Rockies on Saturday. The Diamondbacks got their fair share of hits, too.
Todd Helton went 3-for-4, leading five Rockies with at least two hits in Colorado’s 12-11 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Troy Tulowitzki went 2-for-4. He singled and doubled in his first two at-bats against Diamondbacks starter Edgar Gonzalez, giving him eight times on base in his previous nine plate appearances, including a homer, four doubles, two singles and a walk.
Matt Holliday and Cory Sullivan both went 2-for-3. Seth Smith went 2-for-2 with a double and a three-run homer.
Gonzalez, who was having one of the best springs on the staff, got the Rockies out in order in the first inning, but struggled the rest of the way, allowing five runs, seven hits and four walks in 3 2-3 innings. Arizona has given up 147 earned runs in 25 games.
While that would be reason for concern in the regular season, it is only spring training.
“The intensity comes up some and the velocity comes up once the season starts,” Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. “A lot of those things will increase across the board. When you look at 20-hit games, sometimes that just happens.”
Colorado pitchers were not much better.
Arizona’s Chris Young led off the first inning with a solo homer off Colorado’s Aaron Cook. It was Young’s third home run of the spring.
Cook recovered after the start to Young by keeping Arizona off balance until the fifth, when he gave up five runs by opening the inning hitting two straight batters. He left after 4 1-3 innings, allowing six runs and five hits, while walking two and striking out four.
“After I hit the second guy I just lost it,” Cook said. “There is no other explanation.
“They hit pitches that should have been hit. It is good that I got my pitches up there and labored a little that inning, but I wish I could have labored and got out of it instead of getting pulled.”
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