The Pirates were one game away from a road sweep. Ubaldo Jimenez stood in their way.
The Pirates scored an early run. Jose Tabata reached on an infield single against Jimenez and Garrett Jones continued his hot hitting with an RBI double. But Colorado wasted no time in getting that run back. Carlos Gonzalez hit a solo homer with two out in the first against Paul Maholm.
The second inning would proved to be messier. Ryan Spilborghs walked with one out. Pedro Alvarez handled a well hit grounder from Miguel Olivo but threw it away. Olivo was charged with a single and both runners moved up on the errant throw. After Ian Stewart got a free pass, Jimenez whiffed. The Rockies made it happen with two outs. Dexter Fowler hit a two run double and Clint Barmes hit a two run single to put the Stones up 5-1.
The Rockies used three straight two out singles in the fifth inning – the final one from Olivo – to score again off Maholm. In the next frame Jimenez started a rally that would see two more runs scored and Maholm pulled from the game. Brad Hawpe hit a solo homer in the seventh off of Steven Jackson for the Rockies final run.
The Pirates failed to advance a runner to third base until Neil Walker homered with one on and two out in the 8th off of Rafael Betancourt. Far too little and definitely too late. Huston Street made his first appearance since being hit in the Stomach by a BP line drive. He tossed a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.
Maholm gave up 11 hits and eight earned runs in 5-1/3 innings of work. Jimenez gave up one run on three singles and a double in seven innings. He struck out six and walked three.
The Good
Tabata had two hits and scored twice. Walker continues to show some power.
The Bad
There’s no shortage of teamst have been handcuffed by Jimenez this year.
The Rest
Jimenez has 16 wins. Pirates starters for all of 2010 combined have 19 wins.
Jimenez is 3-0 versus Pittsburgh in five career starts. Maholm is now 1-5 versus Colorado with all six of those decisions coming in Denver. Maholm does have a two game hitting streak.
Andrew McCutchen was scratched with ongoing issues with his shoulder.
