Colorado finds way home

DENVER - The Colorado Rockies, one of the most potent teams offensively in the major leagues, had gone 17 innings without scoring a run.

On Tuesday night, the Rockies ended that drought by scoring six runs against the New York Mets in a 6-4 win.

Matt Holliday broke up a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning with a solo home run over the rightfield fence. The Rockies tacked on two more in the eighth.

In the second, with the Rockies down 2-0, it looked as if the scoreless streak would stretch to 18 innings until Mets pitcher Victor Zambrano came out of the game with an inflamed right elbow.

Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings ended the scoreless streak with a line-drive single down the left-field line, off of rookie reliever Dan Wheeler, scoring Holliday.

The Rockies scored one more run in the inning when Aaron Miles sent a chopper to second base. The throw from Mets second baseman Danny Garcia pulled first baseman Eric Valent off the bag allowing J.D. Closser to score.

Jennings collected two singles and an RBI, but was rocky on the mound for the first few innings.

Jennings allowed three runs in the first three innings and then settled down and retired eight in a row after that. He improved to 11- 10.

"I didn't adjust much," Jennings said. "It just took a while to find my rhythm and release point."

The Mets severed a 2-2 tie in the third inning. Richard Hidalgo lined a double to deep center field, scoring Garcia.

The Rockies bit back in their half of the third. Vinny Castilla picked up his 100th RBI with a single to shallow center scoring Todd Helton.

The Rockies then added some distance between them and the Mets in the bottom of the eighth inning. Aaron Miles hit an RBI single scoring Holliday, and Royce Clayton drove in a run when he sacrificed to first base scoring Closser.

Shawn Chacon picked up his 30th save of the season, but not without some drama.

Chacon walked the first two batters he faced in the ninth. He got Valent to hit an easy grounder to first base, but Helton tried to turn it into a double play, overthrowing second base. That allowed the Mets' Joe McEwing to score and put runners on first and second.

Chacon then got Garcia to strike out and pinch-hitter Todd Zeile to pop out.

"People said I should get 30 to 35 saves this season, but I don't set goals," Chacon said. "The only goals I set are team goals. I've blown eight saves this season. Maybe if I'd saved five of those, we could be in the playoff race."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0215 or snorris@gazette.com

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