Aug 2, 2002 4 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Colorado rookie Jason Jennings doesn’t have a shutout or a complete game since his major league debut last year. Maybe that’s why the last thing he expected was to flirt with the first no-hitter in Rockies history. Jennings held Pittsburgh hitless for 6 2-3 innings, the longest such stretch in team history, and the Rockies salvaged the final game of the three-game series by beating the Pirates 3-0 Thursday night.

Jennings’ best effort of his so-far excellent rookie season – he is 11-5 – ended the Rockies’ season-long eight-game losing streak. The Pirates won the first two games after losing six straight.

“That was way past good – one hit in seven innings,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “If we’d gotten a few more runs, he would have pitched longer, but I didn’t want anything negative to come out of this.”

The Pirates didn’t have anything resembling a hit until Brian Giles sent new Rockies left fielder Jay Payton to the base of the left-field wall to catch his long drive to start the seventh.

Two batters later, Rob Mackowiak broke his bat blooping a ball just beyond the reach of third baseman Todd Zeile and shortstop Juan Uribe to break up the longest no-hit bid in the Rockies’ 10-season history.

“There’s nothing you can do, the no-hitter just wasn’t meant to be,” Jennings said.

Mackowiak said, “That’s just what we were saying, you don’t see a lot of homers broken up by a line shot or a homer, it’s always a blooper somewhere.”

The 24-year-old Jennings allowed one hit in seven innings, with the other Pirates hit – Craig Wilson’s single in the eighth – coming off Justin Speier. It was the fifth time the right-hander has lasted seven innings, but he hadn’t pitched longer than six innings in his previous nine starts.

“The kid was exceptional,” Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon. “We had him on the ropes in the fifth, but we couldn’t get it done. His changeup was exceptional and he broke a lot of bats with his sinker, which was really running in.”

The Pirates, outhit 13-2, were shut out for the fourth time in seven games and the 11th time this season. They were shut out three times during Houston’s four-game sweep last weekend.

Jennings was lifted after throwing 94 pitches. He struck out four and walked two – Aramis Ramirez and Mackowiak in succession to start the fifth, the only time he was in trouble.

After that, Jennings ran the count full to the next three batters but got all three, Hyzdu on a grounder to third, Craig Wilson on a strikeout and Pokey Reese on a fly ball to center with runners on second and third. Hurdle elected to let Jennings pitch to Reese, a .370 hitter with runners in scoring position, rather than intentionally walk him to load the bases and face opposing pitcher Brian Meadows.

“I made an adjustment in the middle of the inning, I was flying open a little bit with my shoulder,” Jennings said. “But it was a good inning for me. I kept the momentum going and I didn’t let them get any momentum after we got our first run.”

Meadows (0-1), called up from Triple-A Nashville two days before to take Joe Beimel’s spot in the rotation, allowed two runs and eight hits in six innings.

Larry Walker gave the Rockies a 1-0 lead in the fifth with an RBI double, his fifth hit in two games and his sixth in the series. Brent Butler made it 2-0 with a solo homer, his sixth, off Meadows in the sixth.

The Rockies added on a run in the seventh on Todd Helton’s RBI double.

Payton, acquired from the Mets in one of two trading deadline deals by the Rockies on Wednesday, went 2-for-5. He singled and stole second in the fifth, putting him in position to score on Walker’s double.

Speier pitched a scoreless eighth before Jose Jimenez finished up for his 27th save in 30 opportunities.

NOTES: It was Colorado’s fifth shutout, all by multiple pitchers. … Colorado had lost nine straight on the road. … RHP Ryan Vogelsong, out all season following reconstructive elbow surgery, was added to the Pirates’ 40-man roster Thursday. … Meadows was the 10th starter used this season by Pittsburgh, two fewer than last season. … The Pirates were denied their first three-game sweep of the Rockies in Pittsburgh. … The losing streak tied for the fourth longest in Rockies history. They had a nine-game streak in 1999, an 11-game streak in 2000 and a 13-game streak during their first season in 1993. … OF Darren Lewis, acquired Wednesday from the Cubs for OF Chad Hermansen, is expected to join the Pirates on Friday.