MEDIA CLIPS – July 8, 2015 Rox fall to Angels after Bettis struggles early By Alden Gonzalez and Dargan Southard / MLB.com | July 7th, 2015 DENVER -- The Angels knocked around Chad Bettis early with four home runs in the first three frames, propelling Los Angeles to its third straight double-digit showing and a 10-2 win over the Rockies in Tuesday's series opener at Coors Field. Albert Pujols set the tone in the first with a three-run shot for his 54th career Interleague homer -- the most in Major League history. Mike Trout and Matt Joyce followed suit by going deep in the second, and former Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta knocked Bettis (4-4) out with a two-run homer in third, which gave the Angels a 10-0 advantage. "I don't know if you expect your offense to max out every time like we have these last four games, but early runs are important," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia, whose team has scored 43 runs amid a four-game winning streak. "We've been doing it, and you can see how it affects every aspect of our game -- from our pitchers being able to bring all their stuff into a game and not worrying about one mistake costing them. It's great to see." The early output was more than enough support for Angels starter Andrew Heaney(2-0), who yielded eight hits and two runs over 7 1/3 frames. Bettis, meanwhile, lasted just 2 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits and a career-high 10 runs on just 56 pitches. Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu each had three hits atop the Rockies lineup, and Drew Stubbs launched a solo homer in third. But all of Colorado's offense arrived far too late. "It makes it tough, but you've still got to grind away at-bats," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said of playing from behind. "Thought Heaney did a nice job for them, but it makes it tougher when you're playing from behind in all aspects of the game." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Crooked numbers: For all intents and purposes, the game had already been decided, but the Angels made certain of it in the top of the third, when Iannetta ripped a two-run homer to straightaway center field -- to pretty much the same place Joyce would hit one an inning later. It was the Angels' 11th multi-run inning of this road trip, which they're only four games into. They've outscored their opponents -- the Rangers and Rockies -- 43-8 in that stretch. "Any time you score a bunch of runs it's a lot more fun," Joyce said. "You aren't going to score 10 runs every game, but for us, I think we've done a great job of sticking with our approach and getting pitches to hit and squaring them up." Picking up the extension: Troy Tulowitzki extended his hitting streak to 19 games and his on-base streak to 34 games with an RBI single in the sixth. During his current hitting streak, Tulowitzki is batting .365 (27-for-74) with 12 runs scored and 12 RBIs. Still solid: Heaney let three straight batters reach with one out in the sixth, but he got out of the inning with only one run across and turned in another solid, efficient outing. In three starts with the Angels, the 24-year-old Heaney has given up 1 just four runs in 20 1/3 innings, scattering 14 hits, walking three batters and striking out 17. The Angels could have some tough -- yet ideal -- decisions to make with their rotation once Jered Weaver returns from the disabled list. "I do my thing, I go out there and pitch, and whatever happens, happens," Heaney said. "I'd like to think I've given myself an opportunity, but there's five other pitchers that made the team for a reason and there's a reason I didn't." Long-ball blues: The home run is always a concern for pitchers at Coors Field, but it hadn't been much of an issue for Bettis until Tuesday night. Entering the series opener, he had served up just four long balls in 61 1/3 innings this season -- and only one of those homers came at Coors Field. But the Angels needed just 17 batters to double Bettis' season total, and none of Los Angeles' four homers were cheapies. All of them were projected by Statcast™ to land at least 415 feet away. "Those four pitches I missed up in the zone that were home runs -- they're a hot team right now, and you've got to be able to locate pretty well," Bettis said. QUOTABLE "That's baseball. Its that ebb and flow. It keeps coming back and forth. You try to prolong the flow and shorten the ebb. We had an ebb for a long time." -- Iannetta SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS The Angels, coming off a 12-6, sweep-clinching series finale against the Rangers on Sunday, have now scored 10 or more earned runs against a starting pitcher in back-to-back road games. That hasn't been done since 1939, by the Yankees. They're also the first team to plate double-digit runs in three straight games this season. WHAT'S NEXT Angels: Right-hander Matt Shoemaker (4-7, 4.91 ERA) takes the ball for the finale of a two-game series at Coors Field on Wednesday, with first pitch slated for 6:40 p.m. MT. Shoemaker has improved in his last two starts, limiting the Mariners and Yankees to four runs in 11 2/3 innings. This will be his first appearance in Denver. Rockies: Left-hander Chris Rusin will take the hill in Wednesday's series finale, looking to give Colorado just its second Interleague win this season in 11 tries. In three career Interleague games (two starts), Rusin is 0-1 with a 9.64 ERA. Most of that damage came this season, when Rusin gave up seven runs over four innings in a June 16 loss at Houston. Watch every out-of-market regular season game live on MLB.TV. Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. Dargan Southard is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. 2 Tulo makes Final Vote case by extending hit streak By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | DENVER -- Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is campaigning with his play. Tulowitzki, who extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a sixth-inning single on Tuesday night in a 10-2 loss to the Angels, is one of five National League candidates for the 2015 Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote. Fans can cast their votes from a list of five players from each League until 2 p.m. MT on Friday. Tulowitzki ranks fourth in the NL with a .319 batting average. His streak, which dates back to June 15 is the Majors' longest active run, and he has reached base in a career-best 34 straight games. He is hitting nearly .400 since May 29, and seven of his nine homers have come during that period. That's the only message coming from this candidate. "Can I have fun with it?" said Tulowitzki, who would join Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado and second baseman DJ LeMahieu at the All-Star Game if he wins the Final Vote. "You guys, knowing me, probably not. I'm not a big fan of it. I won't be sitting here campaigning for myself. I won't be shooting any texts, myself, trying to get myself in. If I gather enough votes from the fans, obviously, it'll be much-appreciated. It'll be an honor, but I don't think I'll do much campaigning on my part." A strong performance during the weekend put Tulowitzki ahead of the Cardinals'Jhonny Peralta, the fans' pick to start, in batting average and OPS (.845), and into the lead among NL players at his position. Yet, NL players selected the Giants' Brandon Crawford (third among NL shortstops in OPS at .860) to the squad as a reserve, and Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who will manage the NL squad, submitted Tulowitzki as a Final Vote candidate and not as a squad member. However, Tulowtizki refused to enter a debate. "I'll let you guys go ahead and compare the stats," he said. "My job is to go out here and play, play hard every single day, and help the Rockies win games. That's what I'm concentrating on." Tulowitzki was headed for NL Most Valuable Player consideration last year before he suffered a season-ending left leg injury just after the All-Star Game -- one he started, after leading NL players in voting. The standard he set during the first half of last season might have hurt him in this year's voting. "I don't know who the campaign manager is but we've got to get one," said Rockies manager Walt Weiss. "Tulo got off to a relatively slow start by his standards, but over the last month, even five weeks, he's leading all of Major League Baseball in hitting. Slowly but surely he's returning to form here. I'd like to see him get in there. It would certainly say something about the strength of our infield, having three guys in that game. "In Tulo's case, he has set the bar so high for himself that anything short of an MVP-type season, maybe people look down upon.