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After taking two of three games from the San Francisco Giants—a good team with one of the best pitching lineups in baseball—the Colorado Rockies headed to Arizona to face one of the worst teams.
On paper, the Rockies are much better than the Diamondbacks, so Colorado should easily handle them whenever they match up, right? Apparently not. The Rockies managed just one win in the three-game set, and it came yesterday thanks to the combination of Ubaldo Jimenez’s strong pitching and a bullpen save.
Jimenez is now 11-1 on the season, even though his 33-game scoreless streak was snapped after he gave up a two-run home run to the Diamonbacks’ Conor Jackson yesterday in the eighth inning (via MLB.com).
Colorado managed to hang on to the 3-2 lead for the remainder of the game, even after Jimenez was pulled. He continues to set historic marks, though: His 0.93 ERA through 12 starts is the lowest since Dutch Leonard posted a 0.83 ERA through 12 games with the 1914 Boston Red Sox.
Yesterday’s culprit was the frustrating lack of clutch hitting that has plagued the Rockies, who over the past two games are 1-17 at the plate with runners in scoring position, as Denver Post reporter Troy Renck has noted via his Twitter feed.
To make matters worse, Todd Helton—perhaps the best baseball player Denver has ever claimed—was benched for two of three games in Arizona for his inexplicable lack of hitting (via The Denver Post).