MINNEAPOLIS -- Colorado has looked anything but comfortable away from Coors Field since that ballpark opened in 1995.
Yet it was the Rockies who made Minnesota seem like a stranger at the Metrodome on Tuesday night.
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| Preston Wilson connects for a three-run homer off Brad Radke.(AP) |
"It's good to get off to a good start on the road -- a lot better than the alternative," said Wilson, whose team brought the worst road record in the majors to the game and are now 8-22 away from Denver.
Vaughn also doubled and went 2-for-4 for the Rockies, who began a six-game trip with their first-ever matchup against the Twins.
"When you give up no runs, what I've learned is that your chances of winning the game increase," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said.
That was thanks to Jennings, who gave up three hits and four walks in 7 2/3 innings and struck out seven. Side-arming lefty Brian Fuentes finished up the three-hitter -- the third time Minnesota has been shut out this year.
"These days don't come around very often," Jennings said. "I had my rhythm and my tempo. It was one of those nights when everything was clicking."
Not for the Twins, who fell to 15-15 at home -- by far the worst among the six division leaders.
"We come home hoping to get on a roll and basically get it stuck up our butts," said an unusually testy manager Ron Gardenhire, who felt his team didn't concentrating very well.
"We didn't take enough pitches, we didn't get on base enough," he said. "Hopefully we'll be a little smarter tomorrow and have a little better plan."
The veteran Vaughn, who signed a minor league contract with Colorado in April after his release by Tampa Bay, hit his first homer as a Rockie -- a solo shot off Brad Radke in the sixth that gave his new team a five-run lead, one week after his promotion from Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Justin Morneau had two of Minnesota's hits in his major league debut.
One of the organization's top hitting prospects, he was called up the day before after hitting 13 homers in 37 games at Triple-A Rochester.
Batting cleanup as the designated hitter, Morneau laced a single to center in his first at-bat to elicit a standing ovation and finished 2-for-4.
Jennings, last year's NL Rookie of the Year after going 16-8, was awful in April (6.97 ERA) and didn't get a whole lot of support in May (three runs in his two losses).
But he won his second straight start on Tuesday, mowing through a Minnesota lineup that had never seen him before with some great defense behind him.
After bobbling a grounder and committing an error on his first chance, Juan Uribe turned a double play to end the first inning. Greg Norton made a diving stop of a screaming one-hopper to throw out Luis Rivas in the third, Wilson had a nice running catch in center of Corey Koskie's line drive to the gap in the fourth and Todd Helton made a backhanded stab near the line to get Bobby Kielty on a groundout in the fifth.
Just as his team has played short of expectations at home, Radke has struggled this year at the Metrodome -- a place where he's traditionally pitched well in nine seasons with the Twins.
Now 3-4 with a 8.54 ERA at home, Radke and his teammates trailed by three runs before most of the 18,886 fans had settled in their seats.
Uribe and Jay Payton led off the game with singles, and with one out Wilson hit Radke's first offering 420 feet to straightaway center field. Then Johnson hit the first pitch of the second inning high and deep into the left-field stands to put Colorado up 4-0.
Radke (5-6) gave up five runs and seven hits in seven innings while striking out a season-high eight.
"It's just not going my way right now," he said. "I can't put a finger on it."
Notes
- Radke was 55-49 with a 3.97 ERA in his career at the Metrodome coming into this season.
- Uribe fouled a pitch off his protective cup in the fifth but remained in the game. Rockies trainer Tom Probst, a native of Brainerd in northern Minnesota, came out to check on Uribe.
- Morneau, Koskie and Rockies RF Larry Walker are all Canadians, and Morneau grew up a huge fan of Walker's when he played for Montreal and later Colorado.
- Rockies SS Jose Hernandez struck out three times and leads the majors with 86.
- Wilson leads the NL with 57 RBIs.
- Colorado has thrown four shutouts.
- Vaughn was 1-for-15 against Radke before Tuesday.
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