In a Rockies season gone bad, Aaron Cook has been so good, and he was at his best in the Rockies' 4-0 victory against San Diego at Coors Field on Tuesday.
Cook needed only 79 pitches to pitch the first shutout of his career, and only the 16th shutout in the history of Coors Field, which opened in 1995. It took only 1 hour, 58 minutes, the first sub-two-hour game in Coors Field history, for Cook to earn his franchise-record-tying 11th victory before the All-Star break in helping the Rockies end an eight-game losing streak. He gave up four singles, twice erasing runners with double plays, and never allowed a runner past first base. He did not walk a batter and struck out four.
Cook has two more starts before the break -- against the Marlins at Coors Field on Sunday and against the Mets at Shea Stadium on July 20 -- to earn a 12th victory and break the franchise record Shawn Chacon set five years ago.
The 79-pitch effort on Tuesday isn't even his low-pitch game against San Diego at Coors Field. On July 25 last season, Cook needed only 74 pitches to go the distance in a 10-2 victory, equaling the fewest pitches thrown in a nine-inning complete game since Stats Inc. began keeping track in 1988. Carlos Silva of Minnesota threw 74 pitches in beating Milwaukee on May 20, 2005.
Cook threw 10 or more pitches in only three of the nine innings. He gave the Rockies a major lift when, after Brad Hawpe struck out with the bases loaded in the bottom of the third, he retired the side on five pitches in the top of the fourth. That quickly ended any possible momentum shift for the Padres, who rallied from an 8-3 deficit to a 15-8 victory in Monday's series opener. The Rockies also squandered late-inning leads in Detroit on Saturday and Sunday.
"I knew I had to go out and get our guys back on the bench in a hurry," Cook said.
He has picked up seven of his wins in games after Rockies losses, but more concerning to Cook than the team's struggle was his own recent slump. He was coming off back-to-back losses, and he lasted only 5 1/3 innings at Kansas City a week ago, his second shortest effort this season.
"In that game in Kansas City and the one before, I wasn't close to where I needed to be," Cook said. "(Pitching coach Bob Apodaca) and I had a bullpen session in Detroit where I got my delivery back and my release point back."
ROCKIES 4, PADRES 0: Aaron Cook pitched the first shutout of his big-league career, and the Rockies ended an eight-game losing streak that included blown late-inning leads in each of the last three losses. Troy Tulowitzki lined a double to right-center field to lead off what became a four-run Rockies rally in the fifth against Josh Banks.
