Denver, CO – Troy Tulowitzki hit a two-run homer and Jhoulys Chacin tossed 6 1/3 scoreless innings to go along with a sacrifice fly, as the red-hot Colorado Rockies downed the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1, on Friday in the first of a three-game set.
Michael Cuddyer had a double and Chris Nelson had a triple and scored a run for the Rockies, who registered just three hits, but picked up their seventh straight win.
Chacin (3-0) allowed just three hits and struck out five in the victory, which he aided by knocking in Nelson in the fifth inning. The team announced just before the game ended that the righty dealt with left oblique tightness and will be re-evaluated on Saturday.
"I thought he was really good. He's had nice outings all year for us, and that was as good as any of them," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said.
Gerardo Parra had two hits and scored Arizona's lone run for the D-Backs, who have lost three of four. Ian Kennedy (1-2) was touched for three runs on all three of Colorado's hits and struck out six over six frames.
After the Rockies had failed to register a hit through the first three innings and with one out and a runner on first, Tulowitzki came through with a blast to left to make it 2-0.
In the fifth, Nelson hit a deep line drive over the center fielder to lead off the frame. Chacin then added to his own cause with a sac fly to center to make it 3-0.
With two down in the ninth, the Diamondbacks plated one run on a throwing error from Nelson. Rafael Betancourt, though, closed out the game with a fly out to earn his sixth save in six tries this season.
"We never really got ahead of (Chacin), that was probably the best I have seen him throw," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said.
Game Notes
Chacin also became the first Colorado starter to throw 100 pitches in a game since June 12, 2012. That's a stretch of 117 games ... The next longest streak occurred with Washington (2011-12) which went 33 games without a starter throwing 100 pitches ... Chacin left the game in the seventh after appearing to grab his lower back ... The Rockies last won seven straight from April 9-15, 2011 ... The Diamondbacks had won 10 of their last 16 in Colorado.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.