The Colorado Rockies are getting that look again.
Garrett Atkins and Jeff Baker homered
and drove in three runs, Ubaldo Jimenez turned in
another terrific start and the
Chris Iannetta also homered and Scott Podsednik had
three hits for the
"We're not trying to recreate anything,'' Hurdle said. "We're just trying to play well day to day. Last year, we figured out a way to score one more run than our opponents. Right now, we're finding ways to barrel up some balls. Our offense has been good from the bottom all the way to the top.''
The
"We're really fortunate to be in the position we're in,'' Troy Tulowitzki said. "We tried to play our way out of it. Now, we're trying to play our way into it. We learned a lot from last year and not much has changed. We still have the same confident guys.''
Jimenez (7-9) allowed five hits in six innings, improving to 5-1 with a 1.74 ERA in six July starts.
"I wasn't as sharp as I was in my other starts,'' Jimenez said. "They were looking for fastballs up and they got them. My fastball wasn't as good as it was in my other games.''
Josh Fogg (2-3), pitching with 30 stitches in his lip after being hit by a line drive while tossing in the outfield during practice on Tuesday, lasted just 3 2-3 innings for Cincinnati. He allowed seven runs, eight hits and three walks against his former team.
Fogg said his lip wasn't the problem. "I wish I could say it walked the four or five guys I walked, but that was me,'' he said. "It was just poor pitching.''
The Reds finished their longest homestand
of the season with a 4-6 record while allowing
"We knew they were a hot club coming in,'' Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "They were swinging the bats up and down the lineup. Every game, they went around (the lineup) twice before we went around once. I wasn't even playing and I feel beat up watching them get beat like that.''
Atkins chased Fogg with a two-out, two-run homer to left, his 15th of the year.
"You look up and it's 8-0,'' Reds left fielder Adam Dunn said. "The mood's going to be down all day. This series, we didn't play well. We've got to regroup. It's definitely shocking any time we don't score runs. It's shocking to me.''
Ken Griffey Jr. singled
in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 10 games for
Plate umpire Jim Reynolds issued warnings to both
benches after Jimenez hit Brandon Phillips with a pitch in the bottom of the
sixth and Gary Majewski hit Tulowitzki
in the top of the seventh.
Notes
Dusty Baker's sister, Tanya, called him Sunday morning from