Brower bounced back from a disastrous outing against the
Arizona Diamondbacks
on Sunday, when he was shelled for six runs and four hits while retiring just four batters.
In his third start of the season, Brower (6-2) allowed just three hits and one walk while matching a career high with seven strikeouts. He threw 59 of 95 pitches for strikes.
"I'd like to do the job as a starter or in the bullpen," he said. "I pitch to win. It's just hard sitting there for four days knowing I got killed by Arizona. I felt more comfortable this time and prepared more intensely."
"He had the exact same stuff as in Arizona, except tonight he had control," Giants manager
Felipe Alou
said. "Very impressive stuff. As soon as he walked into this place, we knew he had good stuff."
Pedro Feliz
gave Brower all the support he needed when he belted a two-run homer off Colorado starter
Darren Oliver
(7-6) with one out in the third inning.
The Giants loaded the bases with none out in the sixth before Aurilia cleared them with a triple off the wall in right field.
"Lucky I hit it at that time of the game," Aurilia said. "I wanted to hit the fly ball. I got a ball over the plate and was lucky. Anytime you get one out in that gap, you feel lucky."
"(Oliver) pitched pretty effectively to that point," Colorado manager
Clint Hurdle
said. "Obviously, he was missing with his location, and then Aurilia got him."
Andres Galarraga
followed with a run-scoring single off former Giant
Steve Reed
and pinch hitter
Tony Torcato
capped the inning with an RBI double two batters later.
Oliver had won his previous four decisions but failed to post the first five-game winning streak of his career. He surrendered six runs and nine hits in five-plus innings.
Barry Bonds
had two doubles and a single for San Francisco, which moved a season-high 22 games over .500.
Todd Helton
extended his hitting streak to 12 games for the Rockies, who have lost the first two games of an eight-game road trip.
Brower struck out the side in the third inning and retired nine consecutive batters before allowing a single by
Chris Stynes
with two outs in the sixth.
Jason Christiansen
started the seventh inning but left after putting runners at first and second with one out.
Joe Nathan
came on and retired all four batters he faced before
Felix Rodriguez
began the ninth.
Rodriguez worked around a leadoff double by Helton, getting the next three batters as the Giants won for the 15th time in 22 games.