DENVER (AP) - The Texas Rangers discovered Coors Field is not always a hitter’s paradise.
Not even with Jordan Lyles on the mound.
The Rangers came to Denver after a 14-run outburst Sunday but were shut down by Lyles’ gem, and the Colorado Rockies beat Texas 8-2 on Monday night.
Shin-Soo Choo and Adrian Beltre had two hits each but no Texas batter managed more than one against Lyles.
It was quite a turnaround from the pitcher they saw the last three years with Houston. Lyles (4-0), who came to Colorado in the offseason, was 0-5 with a 9.82 ERA is six starts against the Rangers before Monday.
“He was not the same guy we faced last year,” catcher Robinson Chirinos said. “Today he was keeping the ball down and getting ground balls.”
Texas starter Martin Perez struggled for the second consecutive start after hurling 26 straight scoreless innings. He allowed five runs on seven hits over five innings. In his past two games he has been touched for 13 runs in 9 2-3 innings.
Perez had not surrendered a home run for 46 innings dating back to last season when Nolan Arenado went deep on him in the second.
“When he made a mistake out over the plate, they made him pay for it,” Texas manager Ron Washington said. “He’s only human. He’s going to have some starts that don’t go in his favor.”
His first mistake was allowing a two-run home run to Arenado that gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead in the second.
After Carlos Gonzalez led off the second with a double to left, Arenado drilled a 93-mph fastball into the tunnel in left field to make it 2-0.
It was Arenado’s sixth of the season and fourth during his 25-game hitting streak. The hitting streak is the second-longest in Rockies history.
“It was inside. I don’t know how he hit that ball,” Perez said. “I know if it was in another field it would probably be a foul ball.”
Tulowitzki, who was named the NL Player of the Month for April before the game, had his first multi-homer game of the season and the ninth of his career. He hit a two-run shot off Perez in the fifth and hit another two-run homer off reliever Shawn Tolleson to give Colorado a 7-1 lead in the seventh.
It was more than enough for Lyles (4-0), who came within three outs of the second complete game of his career.
He had struggled in six previous starts against Texas but held the Rangers in check a night after they had 14 hits and nine walks in a 14-3 win over the Angels. He worked out of trouble in the third and the Rangers’ first run came on a ground out to shortstop in the sixth.
Texas had runners on first and second in the eighth but Lyles got Josh Wilson to ground into the third double play of the night to end the inning.
“He moved his fastball around. He had a good cutter working, he threw a slider and got ahead of the hitters,” Washington said. “When he was ahead of the hitters he was able to put them away.”
Lyles left to a standing ovation after giving up a leadoff single to Beltre in the ninth.
Beltre scored on pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland’s single off reliever Nick Masset before Elvis Andrus grounded out to end the game.
Lyles allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out five in his longest outing since throwing a complete game against Milwaukee on Sept. 30, 2012.
Gonzalez made it 3-0 in the third when his ground out to first scored Brandon Barnes.
Notes: Rockies manager Walt Weiss appealed an out call at first base in the second inning and the call was reversed upon review. … The Rangers are 4-8 all-time at Coors Field. … Beltre is hitting .401 in 59 career games at Coors Field. It’s the highest average at Coors Field for players with a minimum of 200 at-bats. … Texas will send Robbie Ross Jr. (1-2, 3.86) against Colorado’s Juan Nicasio (3-1, 4.19) on Tuesday.
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