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  Sunday, Sep. 24 3:05pm ET
Helton homers, steals home in victory
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

DENVER (AP) -- The Florida Marlins are glad to have seen the last of Todd Helton this year.

Todd Helton
Todd Helton connects for a sixth-inning double against Manny Aybar. Helton has 12 RBI in nine games against the Marlins this season.
Helton hit his 38th homer and also stole home as the Colorado Rockies avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Marlins 9-3 Sunday.

"Does the guy ever swing and miss," Florida manager John Boles said about Helton, who hit .457 with three homers and 12 RBI in nine games this year against the Marlins. "He's always putting the ball in play and getting hits against us."

Helton went 3-for-5, raising his major league-leading average to .376. Butch Huskey had two hits and an RBI and Neifi Perez had a triple and two RBI for the Rockies, who won for the second time in nine games.

"I have hit their pitching pretty good," Helton said. "I hadn't done well before this series and the law of averages say I was going to hit a little bit better."

"Todd will go a day or two without getting any hits and it's like, 'Oh, what's wrong with him,"' Colorado manager Buddy Bell said. "That's just the kind of standard that he has set for himself."

Brian Bohanon (11-10), who has won four of five starts, allowed three runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings. He also had an RBI single.

Alex Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with two RBI for the Marlins, who finished the 13-game road trip 5-8. Florida starter Jesus Sanchez (9-12) gave up six runs and eight hits in four innings.

"The guy threw a lot of pitches that were unhittable," Gonzalez said. "He's living proof that you don't have to throw hard up here and be successful."

The first three Marlins reached base to start the game as Florida took a 1-0 lead. Luis Castillo walked and Gonzalez singled ahead of Keith Millar's RBI single to left.

Colorado took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first on Perez's RBI double to left and Helton's run-scoring groundout.

The Rockies added two runs in the third inning. Huskey hit an RBI single, scoring Cirillo and sending Helton to third base. Colorado then pulled a double steal. Catcher Ramon Castro threw late to second and Helton was safe when the return throw from second baseman Luis Castillo went wide of the plate.

"That was my first in the big leagues," Helton said. "But it wasn't like I beat the throw home."

Terry Shumpert tripled to left with one out in the fourth inning to score Jeff Frye, who led off the inning with a single. Shumpert scored on Neifi Perez's sacrifice fly.

Gonzalez had a two-out RBI double for the Marlins in the fifth to make it 6-2. But the Rockies got a solo home run from Helton and a two-run single by Bohanon off Ricky Bones to lead 9-2.

Gonzalez chased Bohanon with a two-out RBI single to left in the seventh inning.

Game notes
Grounds crews members arrived at 8 a.m. to remove 2 inches of snow. ... Florida's Cliff Floyd and Mark Kotsay sat out the game with flulike symptoms. ... Marlins OF Preston Wilson struck out three times and is four away from tying Bobby Bonds' single-season record of 189 in 1970. ... Helton's steal of home in the third inning was the second of the year for Colorado and 12th in club history. ... A strained left ribcage muscle has ended the season for RHP Pedro Astacio. ... Helton has 99 extra base hits, tying Larry Walker (1997) for the franchise record.
 


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