Troy Tulowitzki hits for cycle, drives in career-high 7 runs as Rockies beat Cubs 11-5

Tulowitzki hits for cycle, drives in 7 for Rockies

DENVER — Todd Helton knew early on that teammate Troy Tulowitzki was in for a big game even before the young shortstop did.

“This was a night he was locked in,” Helton said. “You knew he was going to have a good night.”

Tulowitzki had a night to remember, hitting for the cycle with a career-high seven RBIs to help Colorado beat the Chicago Cubs 11-5 on Monday night.

“That’s a pretty good career for some guys,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “Just a tremendous offensive performance.”

Tulowitzki, who had a home run denied in the first video review at Coors Field, came to bat to lead off the seventh a triple shy of the franchise’s fifth cycle and first in nine years. He laced a 3-2 pitch down the left-field line and slid headfirst into the bag before third baseman Jake Fox could corral the throw from left.

“I thought I was going to be out, but I keep going back to (teammate Brad) Hawpe,” he said. “He said he would have been upset if I didn’t try.”

Tulowitzki hit his 21st homer in the first, singled in the second and doubled in the fourth in his first three at-bats. He added a two-run single in the eighth.

When he came out to play the field in the eighth inning, the crowd of 34,485 gave him a standing ovation.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever have a game like this ever in my career,” he said. “Not too many people can say they had a cycle in the big leagues.”

It was the sixth cycle in the majors this season.

Helton had three singles to extend his hitting streak to 15 games and Jorge De La Rosa (10-8) struck out 11 for the Rockies, who took three of four games in the wraparound series with the Cubs.

Tulowitzki had a chance at more RBIs, but a review of his high fly ball in the second inning went against him. With the bases loaded, Tulowitzki hit a fastball from Esmailin Caridad deep down the left-field line and it was ruled foul by third base umpire Bill Welke.

Rockies manager Jim Tracy asked the umpires to look at the replay and the call was upheld under review.

“They did everything they possibly could, there just wasn’t enough evidence to change it,” Tulowitzki said. “They called it foul from the beginning so they had to stick with it.”

At San Francisco, Matt Kemp hit a three-run double to back a strong effort from Hiroki Kuroda and help slumping Los Angeles win the opener of the key three-game series.

The first meeting in three months between the longtime foes came as the Giants had closed within 5½ games of the first-place Dodgers in the NL West.

Los Angeles had lost three straight and 11 of 17 heading into the series.

The Dodgers won for the sixth time in the last seven games started by Kuroda (5-5). He allowed a solo homer to Travis Ishikawa in the second and went 6 1-3 innings, allowing six hits and one walk.

Jonathan Broxton pitched the ninth for his 25th save.

At St. Louis, Kyle Lohse won for the first time since injuring his forearm more than 2½ months ago, working six effective innings for the Cardinals.

Colby Rasmus drew a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning off Kip Wells (0-3) for the go-ahead run and Matt Holliday, Khalil Greene and Brendan Ryan hit balls off the wall in a two-run sixth. The NL Central leaders have won four straight, and are a season-high 12 games above .500 (63-51).

Lohse (5-7) won for the first time in six starts since coming off the disabled list on July 12, limiting the Reds to a run and four hits. Lohse, who won for the first time since being struck on the arm while squaring to bunt on May 23, had been 0-3 with a 5.84 ERA since coming off the DL.

Ryan Franklin finished for his 27th save.

At Miami, Rick VandenHurk pitched five effective innings and five Florida players had at least one RBI in the Marlins’ fourth straight win.

John Baker had two RBIs, and NL batting leader Hanley Ramirez had two singles and an RBI to help chase starter Brian Moehler (7-8) after five innings.

VandenHurk (2-1) struck out four and allowed two runs and five hits.

Darin Erstad had a home run and three RBIs for Houston.

Baker hit a two-run double, Jorge Cantu had an RBI single and Cody Ross added a sacrifice fly in the first inning to put Florida ahead 4-0.

Carlos Lee had a two-run double in the ninth off Matt Lindstrom, and he scored on a balk by Leo Nunez, who got the last two outs for his 12th save.

At Phoenix, Doug Davis had a two-run double and won his third straight decision, Trent Oeltjen hit his third homer in four major league games and Arizona handed New York its ninth loss in 12 games.

Arizona catcher Miguel Montero had three doubles and first baseman Chad Tracy had two run-scoring singles as the Diamondbacks beat the Mets for the fourth time in five meetings this season.

Arizona has won eight of 12 overall.

Davis, who is 3-1 in eight career starts against the Mets, won consecutive starts for the first time since having surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid in April 2008.