TEMPE, Ariz. -- Troy Tulowitzki, Garrett Atkins and Chris Iannetta hit home runs and the Colorado Rockies beat a Los Angeles Angels split squad 6-2 on Thursday.
| Advertisement |
|||
The Rockies had 11 hits, including Tulowitzki's sixth homer of the spring. Iannetta hit his fourth and Atkins his first.
Right-hander Kip Wells, demoted to the bullpen last week, got the start and gave up a run and three hits in three innings. He lowered his spring ERA to 4.71.
He's slated to come out of the Rockies' bullpen after going 7-17 with a 5.70 ERA in 26 starts with St. Louis in 2007.
"His fastball was improved," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "His fastball was the best I've seen from him all spring. He had a good mix on his pitches. All his stuff was sharp."
Angels right-hander Nick Green went five innings and allowed three runs and four hits.
Jeff Mathis upped his spring average to .343 with two of the Angels' six hits.
The Rockies finish Cactus League play Friday night against Arizona at Chase Field. They open the regular season Monday at St. Louis. Full story
Diamondbacks 8, White Sox 4
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona's Dan Haren allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings and the Diamondbacks beat the Chicago White Sox.
Haren struck out six and walked one, allowing the two runs on solo homers by Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye.
Chicago's Joe Crede, who won the starting third base job earlier this week, left the game after fouling a ball off his left foot. The team is waiting on X-rays.
The next time Haren takes the mound will be at Cincinnati on April 2. The former St. Louis prospect will mark his return to the National League after coming to Arizona during an offseason trade with Oakland.
Rangers 8, Royals 5
SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Hank Blalock and Milton Bradley hit back-to-back homers and the Texas Rangers beat the Kansas City Royals.
Right-hander Jason Jennings, who missed three months last season with the Houston Astros because of elbow problems, gave up two runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.
The Rangers used their opening day lineup for the first three innings in their Cactus League finale, and scored five runs in the first two innings. Blalock hit his fourth homer into the Royals' left-field bullpen and Bradley followed with a towering blast, his first of the spring.
Royals catcher John Buck homered in the third inning off Jennings.
Brewers 10, Cubs 10 (10 innings)
MESA, Ariz. -- Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run homer for Chicago, Mike Cameron homered for Milwaukee, and the Cubs and Brewers wrapped up their Arizona spring schedules with a tie in 10 innings.
Both teams sent mostly minor leaguers to the mound, and the Brewers started pulling their position players in the third inning. They didn't bother to stick around for the ending, either. Dressed in suits and toting suitcases, the regulars emerged from the third base dugout after the top of the eighth and strolled up the right-field line toward the exit.
Their next stop is Milwaukee, where the Brewers will host Kansas City in a two-game exhibition series on Friday and Saturday. The Cubs will go to Las Vegas for two against Seattle. The favorites in the NL Central, Chicago and Milwaukee will open the season at Wrigley Field on Monday.
Cameron, of course, won't be there. He'll serve a 25-game suspension because he tested positive for a banned stimulant a second time, so his solo homer during a six-run second inning could be his last for a while. He does plan to play against Kansas City.
Padres 10, Mariners (ss) 10
PEORIA, Ariz. -- After allowing two home runs in his last spring start, Felix Hernandez is not worried heading into the regular season.
Seattle's right-hander gave up three runs and nine hits in five innings against the San Diego Padres.
Hernandez, No. 2 in Seattle's rotation behind ace Erik Bedard, struck out five, but allowed the two home runs, including Scott Hairston's solo shot to left-center on Hernandez's second pitch. Khalil Greene homered leading off the fourth for San Diego.
The teams combined for 32 hits and six errors. San Diego used five of its starters in the game while Seattle used only two: catcher Kenji Johjima and utility player Willie Bloomquist.
Dodgers 2, Angels (ss) 2 (10 innings)
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-run homer for the Angels and James Loney doubled home the tying run for the Dodgers in the eighth as the Los Angeles teams played to a draw.
Juan Pierre had a chance to win it for the Dodgers in the ninth, but flied out with the bases loaded against Rich Thompson -- who retired Loney and Matt Kemp on called third strikes to end the 10th.
Returning to Angel Stadium for the first time since the Boston Red Sox beat them 9-1 in the third and final game of the Division Series, the defending AL West champions split squad grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Guerrero's homer to center field against Derek Lowe.
The Dodgers got one of the runs back with an RBI single by Chin-lung Hu, after a passed ball by Mike Napoli allowed Russell Martin to advance to third. They tied it in the eighth with James Loney's RBI double against Darren O'Day after a two-out walk to Rafael Furcal.
Mariners 7, Giants 2
SAN FRANCISCO -- Yuniesky Betancourt went 2-for-2 and had five RBI and the Seattle Mariners defeated the San Francisco Giants.
Betancourt hit a two-run double in second and connected for his three-run homer in the fourth off Giants starter Matt Cain
Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (1-0) made a spot start for the split squad Mariners and held the Giants scoreless for five innings. He gave up just one hit while walking three and striking out two.
"I showed enough speed that I was effectively wild," said Dickey, who's trying to make the team as a long reliever. "I was able to keep their timing off. The pitch was really moving tonight."











