Rockies lose 6-2 to Cardinals
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tyler Colvin had a great series against the St Louis Cardinals. The rest of the Colorado Rockies? Not so much.
Colvin hit a two-run homer Thursday night, but the Rockies lost 6-2 at Busch Stadium.
"I like hitting in this ballpark," he said. "It's one of those things where I got some good pitches to hit while I was here."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Colorado lost three of four in St. Louis, but Colvin had three homers and seven RBIs. He has seven homers and 16 RBIs in 26 career games against the Cardinals.
"I've faced the Cardinals a few times and I know them and they know me," said Colvin, who is batting .301 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs on the year. "I've been getting some good pitches to hit and I'm not missing them."
Lance Lynn pitched six shutout innings for St. Louis, which has won four of five. Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran had two RBIs apiece as the Cardinals improved to 11-3 in their last 14 games against Colorado.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Lynn (11-4) allowed four hits, struck out seven and walked two. The All-Star right-hander was 0-2 with a 9.98 ERA in his three previous starts.
"I finally got back to where I felt comfortable," he said. "The ball was coming out the way it used to. It was a good feeling."
Lynn returned to his aggressive early season form against the Rockies, retiring 10 consecutive batters from the second to fifth innings. He walked two of the first three batters but did not issue another walk the rest of the way.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"The ball was jumping out of his hand," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "I thought his stuff was as good as any day he's had this season."
Colorado has scored 13 runs in its last six games.
Lynn got out of two-on, one-out jams in each of the first two innings, then cruised the rest of the way.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We had people out there and we got turned away," Colorado manager Jim Tracy said.
Holliday had a run-scoring groundout in the first and a bases-loaded single in the fifth off Christian Friedrich (4-6), who gave up six runs and five hits in 4 1-3 innings.
"It's really frustrating because I pride myself on mental preparation and concentration and being able to step off the mound if you need to to slow the game down," Friedrich said. "Tonight had nothing to do with mechanics. It was just frustrating."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Holliday, who has driven in at least one run in each of his last six games, is 34 for 68 with four homers and 21 RBIs in his last 18 games.
St. Louis scored five runs in the fifth inning to take a 6-0 lead. Jon Jay drew a bases-loaded walk and Holliday followed with a single. Beltran added a two-run double off the base of the center-field wall.
"The lineup has been more consistent," Beltran said. "We feel if we stay with a good approach every day, we can score a lot of runs."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}St. Louis closer Jason Motte came on with two on and two out in the ninth and retired Carlos Gonzalez on a grounder for his 19th save in 23 opportunities. It was Motte's first one-out save of the season.
Gonzalez went 0 for 4, snapping a 12-game hitting streak.
NOTES: The Rockies celebrated their 21st birthday. The NL awarded one of two expansion franchises to Denver on July 5, 1991. ... The gametime temperature was 102, passing the 100-degree mark for the second night in a row. The gametime temperature was 103 on Wednesday. ... Jake Westbrook (7-6, 3.91 ERA) will face Florida right-hander Ricky Nolasco (7-6, 4.62) in the opener of a three-game series on Friday in St Louis. ... LHP Drew Pomeranz (0-3, 3.72) pitches for Colorado against Stephen Strasburg (9-3, 2.81) in the opener of a three-game series in Washington on Friday. ... St Louis improved to 6-1 against the NL West.