Rockies beat Angels 11-1

[March 19, 2010]  ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Brad Hawpe celebrated his 30th birthday with a three-run homer, Seth Smith also went deep and the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Angels 11-1 on Monday night for their 17th victory in 18 games and club-record ninth straight on the road.

The Angels tied a club record with six wild pitches -- all with Jeff Napoli behind the plate. One was by Rafael Rodriguez in the seventh inning that allowed Troy Tulowitzki to score, one by Jason Bulger in the ninth that enabled Ian Stewart to come home. The Halos also had six wild pitches on April 13, 1991 at Minnesota.

Aaron Cook (7-3) allowed a run and three hits over seven innings and struck out four, helping send 30-year-old rookie Matt Palmer to his first loss of the season.

The Rockies' right-hander became the franchise's all-time leader in victories with his 59th, surpassing Jason Jennings, and also broke Pedro Astacio's team record for road wins with his 30th.

Cook had only 12 big league wins to his credit when his career -- and his life -- were threatened because of blood clots that forced him out of a game he started at Coors Field on Aug. 7, 2004, and traveled from his pitching shoulder to both lungs. The right-hander made it all the way back from surgery four months into the 2005 campaign, and emerged as the Rockies' opening day starter in 2007 after Jennings was traded to Houston in the offseason.

The Angels have lost three straight following a season-best seven-game winning streak.

Palmer (6-1) threw 93 pitches in 4 2-3 innings, giving up six runs and seven hits. The right-hander was trying to join Jered Weaver as the only pitches in Angels history to win their first seven decisions with the club. Palmer is 1-1 with a 5.16 ERA over his last five starts, after winning each of his first five.

Before the game, the Angels placed right-hander Ervin Santana on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to June 12, and recalled right-hander Sean O'Sullivan from Triple-A Salt Lake to start Tuesday night's game against Ubaldo Jimenez.

Colorado, 8-2 this season against AL teams, opened the scoring in the second inning with an RBI single by Stewart and a two-run single by designated hitter Seth Smith.

Morales got the Angels on the board in the fourth with a two-out homer, but the Rockies increased the margin to 6-1 in the fifth with Hawpe's 11th homer after a single by Dexter Fowler and a two-out walk to Todd Helton.

Colorado made it 8-1 in the sixth when Smith hit his fifth home run and Helton added a two-out RBI double.

NOTES: The Angels and Rockies met for the first time in the regular season since 2006 -- although they won three of four meetings in spring training this year and outscored them 39-23. In the last one on March 25, Colorado's Jeff Baker had an inside-the-park homer on a ball that struck CF Torii Hunter in the face as he attempted a leaping catch. ... Angels DH Vladimir Guerrero has not homered in 25 consecutive games, five shy of his longest career drought two seasons ago. He remains seven shy of 400. ... Palmer's only other start against the Rockies was on Aug. 26 at San Francisco, when he gave up five runs over 4 1-3 innings in a 7-2 loss and was optioned by the Giants to Triple-A after that game.

[Associated Press]

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