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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Todd Helton is convinced the only way to hit
.400 is to not try to hit .400.
|  | | Todd Helton went 2-for-4 with a homer on Sunday, helping the Rockies win and putting his average at .394. |
Helton homered and doubled to improve his average to .394, and Brian
Bohanon backed his own effective pitching with a two-run double as
Colorado finished a three-game sweep of Pittsburgh, 9-2 Sunday.
Bohanon (8-9) gave up four singles in his first complete game
since Sept. 3 against the Mets, and had two hits as the Rockies
completed a series in which they outscored the Pirates 26-9.
Helton, trying to become the first since Ted Williams in 1941 to
bat .400, must bat about .430 over the Rockies' final 31 games to
reach .400. He is hitting .432 (54-for-125) in his last 34 games.
"I saw George Brett on TV this morning and he talked about how
he tried to hit .400 and that's where he went wrong," Helton said.
"I'm not on a quest to do it. I'm just trying to help my team win
some games."
Brett made a run at .400 in 1980 before finishing at .390.
Helton was 2-for-4 and had four hits in the final two games of
the Rockies' first three-game road sweep since they started the
1998 season by sweeping Arizona, yet still raised his average only
two points.
"I don't look at my average. It doesn't bother me," said
Helton, who was cheered by the crowd of 20,157 on both hits. "If I
get two hits and we win, that's a good day. I don't look at it any
other way."
Bohanon is doing even better than Helton at the plate over his
last three starts, going 6-for-12 with two doubles, a homer and six
RBIs. He had the Rockies' key hit Sunday, a two-run double off
center fielder Adrian Brown's glove in a go-ahead three-run second
against Dan Serafini (1-3).
Brown, playing rather shallow against the pitcher, had the ball
in his glove as he tried to make an over-the-shoulder catch on the
warning track, but it bounced out just before he reached the wall.
"Most of the time, he makes that catch," Pirates manager Gene
Lamont said. "If he makes it, who knows what happens?"
Bohanon also singled following Butch Huskey's homer in the
fourth, one of three solo shots by a team whose 128 homers are the
second-fewest in the NL. Helton hit his 32nd in the fifth off
rookie reliever Bronson Arroyo, and Jeffrey Hammonds followed with
his 20th.
Helton's hardest-hit ball might have been a line drive that
first baseman Kevin Young turned into a double play in the third.
Helton likely would have doubled down the line if Young had not
been holding runner Jeff Cirillo on at first.
"It will be interesting to see if he (Helton) gets it, but it
is something I would just as soon not be part of," Lamont said.
"It's like the (McGwire-Sosa) home run race (in 1998) when you got
booed in your own ballpark if you walked one of them."
One day after Lamont held a closed-door meeting to emphasize the
Pirates can't give up the season, they lost their fourth in a row
and 13th in 17 games. They will lose 90 games for the second time
in three years even if they win 20 of their final 34 games.
"We're not going to lay down and play with no effort; people
have talked about that, but that's not going to happen," general
manager Cam Bonifay said. "We might not win every game we want to
win, but we're going to play hard and go out and evaluate and do
what we need to do for next year."
Huskey, who also singled in the three-run second, and Ben
Petrick added sacrifice flies in the seventh against reliever Marc
Wilkins. Petrick and Cirillo each had three of the Rockies' 16
hits.
Serafini allowed four runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings as a
Pirates starter failed to pitch past the sixth inning for the 18th
time in 24 games.
Both Pirates runs against Bohanon were unearned. Third baseman
Cirillo misplayed Jason Kendall's grounder in the fourth for an
error that led to a run, and first baseman Terry Shumpert dropped
Aramis Ramirez's soft popup to score a run with two outs in the
ninth.
"The last three or four starts when I had a chance to complete
the game, I didn't do it and I was disappointed," Bohanon said.
"I think I kept my composure better, and if I got in trouble I
made pitches to get out of it."
Game notes
Rockies manager Buddy Bell turned 49 Sunday in the city
where he was born. His father, Gus, was playing for the Pirates in
1951 when Buddy was born. ... The Rockies, usually a poor road
team, have won eight of their last 11 road games. ... Colorado had
35 hits Saturday and Sunday. ... The start of the game was delayed
42 minutes by rain. ... Lamont was booed when he went to the mound
to take out Serafini in the fourth. ... The Pirates lost their 10th
consecutive home day game. They are 3-14 in home day games, last
winning May 14. ... Until going hitless in his final three at-bats,
Bohanon had six hits in nine at-bats.
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