TUCSON, Ariz. -- Garrett Atkins homered in his first game in more than two weeks, leading the Colorado Rockies to a 10-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday.
Atkins, who hadn't played since March 10 because of a strained right hip flexor, connected against Ryan Dempster in the first inning.
"Of course, I was not expecting anything like that," Atkins said. "I was trying to put a good swing on a 3-2 pitch and he left it out on the plate a little bit and I hit it good."
He initially was injured while fielding a grounder on March 2, and after several days off, aggravated his hip and then his right groin after playing again.
"I feel good and my body held up good. I will be out there tomorrow and I will keep going," Atkins said. "I don't anticipate not being out there on opening day."
Atkins, with only 19 spring at-bats, has made the most of his plate appearances with eight hits for a .444 average. He was 1-for-3, including a strikeout and a flyout against the Cubs.
Atkins participated in minor league games before playing against Chicago.
"It is always nice to get out there," Atkins said. "Minor league games are good to get at-bats and to get your legs underneath you, but it is always nice to be here with your teammates and get out there in big league games."
Chris Iannetta hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth inning.
Dempster allowed eight hits and four runs in six innings. He walked three and struck out four. He settled down after Atkins' homer, shutting out the Rockies until allowing another run in the fourth.
The Cubs' No. 2 hurler allowed three of his four runs in the first by giving up an RBI double to Seth Smith and Todd Helton's run-scoring single before Atkins went deep.
"It was a grind out there. I started to throw the ball a lot better the last few innings," Dempster said. "I didn't warm up all that great. It was frustrating and I was getting mad at myself too much. The idea is to keep throwing pitches. I made some adjustments and luckily we came back to score some runs."
Dempster had his roughest outing of the spring, but still has a 2.70 ERA. He has allowed seven earned runs in 23 1/3 innings.
"It is fun to go out there and breeze through three innings when you are executing," Dempster said. "But to go through the beginning of the game struggling like that and finding yourself and get back to your game plan is fun to do."
Colorado starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez couldn't find his rhythm against the Cubs. The normally accurate Jimenez was wild, walking six and hitting a batter in his four innings. He allowed five runs and six hits.
"Unbelievable. I couldn't find myself with my mechanics or my mind," Jimenez said. "Even in the bullpen, I was everywhere."
Jimenez got out of a bases-loaded jam with only one run scoring in the first, but didn't escape damage in the fourth when Micah Hoffpauir hit a three-run homer.
