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 The Colorado right hander stymied the St. Louis Cardinals for 6
2/3 innings as the Rockies opened a difficult nine-game road trip
with a 3-1 decision at Busch Stadium.
Bettis (4-2) didn't allow a hit beyond the infield until St. Louis
pieced together three two-out singles in the seventh, knocking him
out on Randal Grichuk's pinch-hit RBI knock to left for its only
run. Bettis gave up five hits and a run with two walks and three
strikeouts.
Working down in the strike zone, Bettis picked up 11 outs via
grounders and retired the leadoff man in six of his seven innings.
His sinking fastball played so well that Bettis threw it for his
first 24 pitches.
"It's something I try to do every start," he said. "I try and mix it
up and have them roll over (grounders) to our infielders. We had
some great plays tonight. Everything went fantastic."
It was the eighth straight start that Bettis worked at least six
innings, the most for a Colorado starter since Jorge De La Rosa ran
off 11 consecutive outings of six or more innings in 2014.
 Rockies manager Walt Weiss said Bettis' success was grounded in
attacking hitters early in counts.
"An outstanding job by Chad," Weiss said. "He was in control all
night. There were a lot of ground balls."
Although the teams are 1-2 in the National League in slugging
percentage, this one was all about pitching on a raw, damp 52-degree
evening in which the ballpark played very big. At least two
potential homers for each team died on or before the warning track,
including Matt Carpenter's towering fly ball to right-center in the
fifth with two men aboard.
But Colorado (20-18) was able to do just enough against Jaime Garcia
(3-3), plating a run in the third and two more in the fourth.
Nolan Arenado initiated scoring in the third, lacing a two-out RBI
single just in front of sliding left fielder Matt Holliday that
brought Charlie Blackmon home. Blackmon singled with one out and
stole second to set up Arenado.
An inning later, the Rockies cashed in Mark Reynolds' leadoff walk
with one-out singles by DJ LeMahieu and Dustin Garneau, the latter a
hit-and-run liner up the middle that made it 2-0. Bettis then
executed a slug-bunt on an 0-2 pitch, chopping the ball over Garcia
and reaching first on a fielder's choice that scored LeMahieu for a
3-0 advantage.
Garcia left after five innings, allowing five hits and three runs
with four walks and three strikeouts. He fell to 0-4 in six career
starts against Colorado, the only team he hasn't defeated with at
least two career starts.
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"I thought I prepared really well for this start," Garcia said, "but
they've got a good lineup over there. They wouldn't swing at my
pitches off the plate. I should have done a better job with their
leadoff men."
The Cardinals (20-19) made things interesting in the ninth against
closer Jake McGee, putting the potential tying runs on base on a
leadoff hit by Yadier Molina and a two-out walk to Kolten Wong, who
reached base in all four plate appearances.
But after falling behind 3-1 to pinch-hitter Jedd Gyorko, McGee
reared back and blew two high fastballs by him for his 13th save,
just two off the league lead held by Philadelphia's Jeanmar Gomez.
While St. Louis fell to 9-11 at home and 5-12 against teams with
winning records, the Rockies upped their record to 12-8 on the road.
Their excellence away from the Rocky Mountains will be tested on a
nine-game trip that sends them to Pittsburgh and Boston from St.
Louis.
"We know this is a tough trip and a big test for us," Weiss said.
"Winning this first one helps." NOTES: St. Louis reinstated OF Tommy
Pham (left oblique strain) from the 15-day DL and optioned him to
Triple-A Memphis. Injured on Opening Day April 3 in Pittsburgh, Pham
batted .281 in 32 at-bats on a rehab assignment, split between
Memphis and Double-A Springfield. ... Colorado 3B Nolan Arenado
leads the majors in RBIs (162) and extra-base hits (110) since the
start of the 2015 season. ... Cardinals LF Matt Holliday is the only
active player with 500 or more hits in multiple stadiums as he has
512 in Busch Stadium and 511 in Coors Field, his home for the first
five years of his MLB career.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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