Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Colorado 11, Houston 5
When: 8:40 PM ET, Thursday, May 31, 2012
Where: Coors Field, Denver, Colorado
Temperature: 72°
Umpires: Home - Tim Timmons, 1B - Jeff Kellogg, 2B - Eric Cooper, 3B - Marty Foster
Attendance: 31799


Rockies 11, Astros 5: Carlos Gonzalez belted a three-run homer in the first inning to tie a major-league record with his fourth blast in as many at-bats as host Colorado slugged its way to a four-game sweep of Houston.

After launching homers in his final three at-bats on Wednesday, Gonzalez picked up where he left off by depositing an offering from Bud Norris (5-2) over the wall in left field. The quartet of homers in as many plate appearances has been accomplished 22 times in major-league history, with the last coming from then-St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols on April 16-17, 2006.

Gonzalez added a double to run his extra-base hit streak to five straight at-bats — one shy of the National League record, which was set by Colorado's Larry Walker on May 21-22, 1996. Gonzalez is 13-for-20 with six homers, 10 RBIs and nine runs scored in his last five games.

Michael Cuddyer and Jordan Pacheco had three hits apiece and drove in three and two runs respectively. Marco Scutaro, who was playing in place of the injured Troy Tulowitzki, launched a solo homer as the Rockies outscored the Astros by a 40-23 margin in the set.

The offensive explosion was more than enough for Jeremy Guthrie (3-3), who secured his first victory as a member of the Rockies at Coors Field. Guthrie allowed five runs on 12 hits in seven innings.

Norris' night didn't get any better as he yielded a season-high nine runs on seven hits in 1 2/3 innings to take the loss. He had allowed eight runs in his previous six starts.

J.D. Martinez belted a solo homer and Jason Castro had an RBI triple for Houston, which has dropped a season-high six in a row.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Colorado placed Tulowitzki on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left groin. The club reinstated third baseman Chris Nelson, who returned from a left wrist injury ... Guthrie entered the contest with an 0-2 mark and a 9.92 ERA at Coors Field. He had yielded six runs in each of his previous three starts.

Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Houston   Colorado
Bud Norris Player Jeremy Guthrie
Loss W/L Win
1.2 IP 7.0
2 Strikeouts 1
7 Hits 12
48.60 ERA 6.43
Hitting
Houston   Colorado
Jose Altuve Player Carlos Gonzalez
3 Hits 3
1 RBI 3
0 HR 1
3 TB 7
.600 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Houston 14 1 21 .368 13 4 4 0 0 1
Colorado 15 2 25 .405 19 7 11 5 4 0