Norris: Pitching in Denver is no kick
(c) Associated Press
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In a game that sometimes looked like "monkey see, monkey do", the Colorado Rockies got the last blow and came away with an 8-6 verdict over the Astros Tuesday night, drawing Houston to their third straight defeat.
Starters Bud Norris and Alex White both had ragged starts complete with long balls and sloppy fielding. The game was tied at three apiece, at five and at six before a two-run homer by Jonathan Herrera off Fernando Rodriguez in the seventh provided the winning runs.
Carlos Lee and Jimmy Paredes went deep for Houston while Seth Smith took Norris yard for Colorado. Jordan Schafer had two hits in his second game as an Astro.
As if to keep things interesting, Brad Mills sent reliever Wesley Wright into right field (Wright field?) in the bottom of the eighth. After David Carpenter retired Troy Tulowitzki, Wright returned to the mound to strike out Todd Helton after earlier retiring Carlos Gonzalez. It might be seen as a LaRussian act of overmanaging by a last place skipper in a meaningless game but, in Mills' defense, the stunt worked as planned.
Down to their last out with two on in the top of the ninth, Jose Altuve popped up to Helton in foul territory to give Rex Brothers his first big league save.
Wandy Rodriguez (9-9) is scheduled to start in the 2:10 Central series finale but for whom isn't totally clear. The Rockies won the waiver claim on Wandy and now the Astros may negotiate a trade to send the lefty to the home locker room or pull back the waiver and keep Rodriguez for the rest of the season. Aaron Cook (3-7) is scheduled to pitch for the Rockies unless something changes.
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