Fuente: © Colorado Rockies
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MLB: ROCKIES: Rockies shut out A's again

Jennings gives up only one hit over seven innings

/noticias.info/ DENVER -- Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings bemusedly raised an eyebrow over complaints from the Athletics about the baseballs that they swung at, with almost complete futility, on Tuesday night.

Jennings went seven innings and two relievers finished the first one-hitter in Rockies history, 6-0, at Coors Field in front of 21,753. It also marked the third time in Rockies history that they've posted back-to-back shutouts.

The Athletics, who absorbed a 7-0 shutout by Byung-Hyun Kim and three relievers on Monday night, complained that the atmosphere-controlled chamber in which the Rockies store baseballs to keep them from shrinking and hardening in the high-desert climate made the balls tougher to hit. But the Rockies had 10 hits, including a JD Closser homer and two hits apiece by Jamey Carroll and Todd Helton.

But Jennings (6-6) countered that maybe the guys throwing the balls are pretty good. Jennings has won four of his last five starts and has a 2.93 ERA since May 1. He would have spearheaded a no-hitter had a sliding Brad Hawpe been able to hold onto Jason Kendall's looping liner in short right field to open the game. Hawpe, who made a long run just to get to the ball, said he never had full control.

"Let them get mad, because we know in our hearts, it's not cheating," said Jennings, who received perfect relief help from Tom Martin and Brian Fuentes. "It's just making us equal with every other pitcher in the league. Go to San Diego, go to L.A., I can feel the difference in balls. Grab the ball here and it's drier, harder to get a grip -- even with the humidor. It's not like it's a perfect ball.

"Look at our overall staff. We're up there as far as our pitching as a whole. We feel like we're throwing the ball well. Humidor or no humidor, we're pitching a lot better than we have in the past, the starters and the bullpen."

Coors has tied with Comerica Park, Minute Maid Park and Safeco Field for most shutouts in baseball with seven this season, including four by the Rockies. Monday and Tuesday marked the Rockies' first back-to-back shutouts since April 30 and May 1, 2002 -- the first season of the humidor -- at Coors against Pittsburgh. The Rockies' only other back-to-back shutouts occurred April 18 and 19, 2001 at San Diego.

But Athletics manager Ken Macha was not totally convinced that Jennings and the Rockies' pitchers are better.

"I still think that should be investigated," Macha said. "Maybe we ought to do that in our ballpark. But both sides are using the same ball. We got our rears whipped two straight games. No excuses."

Manager Clint Hurdle recalled that pitchers cried foul when he was the Rockies' hitting coach pre-humidor.

"Everybody's talking about the ballpark again," Hurdle said. "They're just talking the other side of the coin.

"We've had some guys comment that the ball is bigger. Well, it should be easier to hit. So that's worked to our favor."

Helton said Jennings, not technology, beat the Athletics.

"You know that's a good-hitting ballclub over there and for him to get swings like that, he's got to be throwing some nasty stuff up there," Helton said.

It wasn't as if Jennings eased through the game. Jennings struck out six and walked six, and was pulled after seven because he had thrown 113 pitches.

"Give [him] a lot of credit," Hurdle said. "He battled back from a bad number with his record early, and now he's battled back to 6-6 and strung a number of quality starts together. Now he's on a roll."

Low-hit games in Denver
Pitcher(s) Team Hits Date
Hideo Nomo Dodgers 0 9/17/1996
Jason Jennings, Tom Martin, Brian Fuentes Rockies (vs. A's) 1 6/20/2006
Pat Rapp Marlins 1 9/17/1995
Jose Rijo* Reds 1 9/13/1993

* -- At Mile High Stadium. All others were at Coors Field

Two of Jennings' walks came in the first to load the bases, before he worked Dan Johnson into a significant fly ball to deep right field. He also had a big third inning after walking leadoff man Nick Swisher. Jennings forced a Mark Kotsay grounder, then held his breath as center fielder Cory Sullivan sprinted to right-center to nab Eric Chavez's deep fly.

One key to Jennings' maturity is his improvement against left-handed batters. Before this season, Jennings had yielded a .312 average to them. After Tuesday, when the Athletics put lefty hitters in four of the top six spots in the order and watched them go 0-for-10, Jennings has held lefties to a .239 average.

Jennings said his performance is "something special, but I don't get excited about a whole lot."

The Rockies can celebrate their recent hitting at Coors. After a light-hitting start, they've won five of their last seven at home to improve to 18-16. In those seven contests, they've scored 51 runs and knocked 75 hits.

"They were getting so much dirt thrown on them, they got the dirt thrown out of their eyes and now they're able to hit a little bit better," Hurdle said. "They're young hitters. They're going to go through some steaks both sides of the deal."

The Rockies broke the game open with Closser's homer to lead off the fourth and two two-run doubles in the inning, by Cory Sullivan and Garrett Atkins. The Rockies bested Athletics starter Esteban Loaiza (2-4) for six runs and nine hits in 3 2/3 innings. notas_de_prensa_archivo