Rockies pound Cardinals, Garcia

DENVER -- Jaime Garcia's first loss of the season was ugly, the type of performance he's not used to.

And neither are the St. Louis Cardinals.

The left-hander was unbeaten and ranked third in the National League with a 1.93 ERA when he took the mound at Coors Field. When Garcia left in the fourth inning, the Colorado Rockies had scored 12 times against him on their way to a 15-4 win.

"You have good days and bad days, and today was a bad day," said Garcia, whose ERA ballooned to 3.28. "I thought I'd been doing a pretty good job in every game and today was just one of those [bad days]."

The Cardinals had gone 7-3 in Garcia's previous 10 starts, the three defeats walk-off losses. There was no such suspense and drama this time. Garcia gave up career-high totals in runs, earned runs (11) and hits (11). He allowed six runs in the first, another in the second and five more in the fourth before his day ended after 3 1/3 innings and 105 pitches.

The beneficiary of all the offense was Juan Nicasio (1-0), who made his major league debut and gave up one unearned run and six hits, five of them singles, in seven innings. The Rockies avoided a season-high five-game losing streak and reached season highs in runs and hits (18).

Chris Iannetta went 4 for 5 with two two-run homers and six RBIs. It was his first multihomer game.

Garcia needed 49 pitches to get through the first when the Rockies sent 11 to the plate.

"I don't think I've thrown as many pitches in an inning," he said.

The first five batters reached base against Garcia, who had allowed one first-inning run this season. Eric Young Jr. led off with an infield single when shortstop Ryan Theriot, moving to his left on the grass, was unable to field the ball cleanly. Garcia lost a 10-pitch encounter with Dexter Fowler, who walked, then gave up a run-scoring single to Carlos Gonzalez.

Troy Tulowitzki followed with an infield hit to third base that scored Fowler, and Todd Helton singled to load the bass. Garcia fell behind Ty Wigginton 3-0 but struck him out. With the count 1-2 on Ryan Spilborghs, second base umpire Paul Nauret flagged Garcia for going to his mouth while on the mound. That resulted in an automatic ball, which led to a walk that forced in a run.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa went out to talk to Nauert after Garcia said he was just blowing on his hand. Garcia said Nauert told him, "Every time I go to my mouth [while on the mound], I got to wipe [my hand]. I don't know. He said something about me licking my hand. I didn't do it."

Iannetta followed with a two-run single, and after Nicasio struck out while trying to sacrifice in his first major league at-bat, Young lined a single to left, his second hit of the inning, to score Spilborghs.