Rockies-Cubs box score

After the Rockies' less impressive games this season, manager Clint Hurdle has talked about how he likes the way the team "washes" off the struggle and comes back clean for the next day.

They must have run out of hot water in the showers in the Rockies clubhouse Thursday night.

A team that has baseball's best record since May 1 welcomed the struggling Chicago Cubs to Coors Field for a four-game series during which Carlos Zambrano won't pitch and leadoff-hitting left fielder Alfonso Soriano and cleanup- hitting third baseman Aramis Ramirez won't play because of injuries.

But the Cubs served notice they aren't making any concession speeches, coasting to a 10-2 victory enjoyed by a sizable faction of Cubs fans among the crowd of 40,738 paying customers.

The loss left the Rockies five games back of the National League West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks - they rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday - and tied for third with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who pulled out an 11-inning win at Cincinnati.

"What impresses me most about this team is its confidence is not tied to the last game's results," Hurdle said of the Rockies.

Good thing because while the focus of the disappointment Thursday will be on rookie right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, who left after the first five batters of the third inning reached base, in the shortest effort this season for a Rockies starter, this was no one-man fiasco.

Jimenez came undone during a third inning that began with Matt Murton's leadoff home run, which was followed by a single by Mark DeRosa, a triple by Mike Fontenot, a single by Jason Kendall and a double by Felix Pie.

Reliever Taylor Buchholz replaced Jimenez.

"His curveball was not sharp and his fastball has to get down in the zone," Hurdle said of Jimenez. "He has signs of the breaking ball but not the consistency he did in his first three starts."

But in losing for only the fourth time in their past 19 games at Coors Field, the Rockies had problems that went well past Jimenez.

Third baseman Garrett Atkins overran what could have been a routine third-out groundball in the second, opening the way for three unearned runs.

With the Rockies down 4-0, Yorvit Torrealba blooped a single into left field.

Despite not running hard out of the box, he tried to stretch it to a double but was thrown out easily, even though left fielder Murton, who dived for the ball, was well off-line with his throw to second.

While Jeff Baker, in only his third start in the past 39 games, followed Torrealba with a home run off Ted Lilly in the second and Ryan Spilborghs delivered a sacrifice fly in the fifth, the Rockies had only one hit in 13 at-bats with a runner on base.

Lilly gave up only two runs despite throwing 127 pitches in six innings.

Then there was Jimenez letting the game get out of hand in the third.

"When you don't come out of the chute cleanly, you dig yourself a big hole," Hurdle said. "We will be expecting to win (tonight) when we take the field."

The game does turn in a hurry. On Thursday, the Cubs scored 10 runs in the first four innings against the Rockies - batting around during a five-run third inning.

The day before, the Rockies enjoyed a record-filled 19-4 victory against Milwaukee, scoring 16 runs in the first four innings in completing a sweep of a Brewers team that has a one-half game lead on the second-place Cubs in the NL Central.

The Rockies have challenges of their own, what with nagging injuries sidelining leadoff-hitting center fielder Willy Taveras and cleanup-hitting first baseman Todd Helton.

And their rotation is a bit uncertain because of the loss of Rodrigo Lopez (torn right elbow flexor) and Jason Hirsh (fractured right fibula) in the past week, adding to the reluctance to overreact to Jimenez, who has had back-to- back struggles after three solid efforts after he first was called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Though he was only 1-0, Jimenez allowed only seven runs in 18 innings his first three starts. But in the past two, he has retired only 20 batters and given up 15 runs (11 earned).

"We'll discuss things (today), look at some tape, see if we can make improvements and go from there," Hurdle said. "We need better from him. He knows that."

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