Denver, CO – Torii Hunter went 3-for-5 with a pair of two- run home runs as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim knocked off the Colorado Rockies, 7-2, in the first tilt of a three-game interleague set at Coors Field.
Hunter added a two-run single and finished with six RBI. Albert Pujols had an RBI double and Mike Trout added three hits and three runs scored for the Halos, who had lost three of their last four entering play on Friday.
"It was a good way to start it off. I like this stadium," Hunter said about his first career game in Coors Field. "I used to watch it on TV all the time all of these years and I was wondering if I was going to see this place before I got out of this game."
C.J. Wilson (7-4) pitched eight excellent innings and allowed just one run on five hits and a walk to go with nine strikeouts to record the victory. Jordan Walden cleaned it up in the ninth to secure the win.
Marco Scutaro had an RBI double and Jordan Pacheco added an RBI triple for the Rockies, who have lost three consecutive games.
Alex White (2-4) allowed four runs on eight hits with six strikeouts and did not issue a walk over six innings in defeat.
"I really wasn't disappointed with Alex's outing," Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. "He just made a few bad pitches and it cost us."
The Angels struck first in the third inning. After John Hester and Wilson struck out to start the frame, Trout ripped a base hit up the middle and Hunter followed by blasting a White offering over the wall in straightaway center field for a 2-0 lead.
Trout and Hunter teamed up again in the fifth to extend the Angels' lead to 4-0. Trout began the inning with a single and Hunter got another mistake pitch out over the plate from White and took it over the wall in left for his second long ball of the season.
Colorado got a run back in the sixth when Young laced a one-out, pinch-hit single up the middle, moved to second on a sac bunt by Fowler and came home when Scutaro ripped a double down the left-field line to make it 4-1.
Pinch-hitter Chris Nelson drew a two-out walk in the Colorado eighth and Fowler followed with a base hit to bring the tying run to the plate, but Wilson got Scutaro to fly out to right to end the inning.
Hester ripped a single, Maicer Izturis drew a walk and Trout was plunked by Rockies reliever Esmil Rogers in the ninth to load the bases before Hunter continued his offensive assault with a two-run single up the middle. Pujols then rocketed a double into right for the Angels' seventh run.
Todd Helton singled off Walden in the home half and scored on Pacheco's triple to make it 7-2, but it was too little, too late for the Rockies.
Game Notes
The Angels opened a six-game road trip on Friday in which they will also play the local rival Los Angeles Dodgers...The Angels won seven consecutive road games...Wilson has allowed just two earned runs over his last four starts...It was Hunter's 16th career two-homer game...These teams last met June 25-27 2010 when the Angels took two of three from Colorado at Angel Stadium.
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