Holliday leads way with two HRs as Rockies put down Phillies

Rockies 8, Phillies 2

PHILADELPHIA -- Fighting to stay in the playoff race, the Colorado Rockies got another major lift from a rookie.

Franklin Morales threw five scoreless innings to earn his first major-league win and Matt Holliday hit two homers to lead Colorado to an 8-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday night.

Troy Tulowitzki and Todd Helton hit solo home runs for the Rockies, who remained 3½ games behind San Diego in the NL wild-card standings.

The Phillies fell 2½ back of the Padres, who beat the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Morales (1-2) gave up three hits, walked one and struck out four in his fifth major league start. The hard-throwing left-hander had a 6.23 ERA before shutting down the league's highest-scoring offense.

"He's got a big arm and a passion to pitch," manager Clint Hurdle said of the 21-year-old. "He's a fierce competitor and loves to play the game."

Jimmy Rollins hit his 27th homer off Jeremy Affeldt in the eighth for Philadelphia, which couldn't rally against Colorado's bullpen for the second straight game.

Adam Eaton (9-9) continued his string of ineffective starts, allowing four runs and six hits in five innings. Signed to a $24.5 million, three-year deal in the offseason, Eaton has been a major bust. He's 2-5 with a 7.20 ERA in 14 starts since June 11 and has a 6.31 ERA overall.

"I don't think I threw the ball that bad, but a bulk of my mistakes ended up over the fence," Eaton said.

Tulowitzki lined the second pitch he saw into the flower bed over the left-field wall to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead in the first inning. He extended his NL rookie record for homers by a shortstop to 21.

Helton crushed a hanging curve into the second deck in right to make it 2-0 in the fourth.

The Rockies scored four runs off Eaton and two relievers to take a 6-0 lead in the sixth. Tulowitzki walked leading off the inning and Holliday followed with a two-run shot to left.

Eaton left after giving up his 29th homer this season and sixth in the last two starts. Kane Davis entered and allowed three singles, including an RBI hit by Yorvit Torrealba. Pinch-hitter Joe Koshansky's sacrifice fly off Geoff Geary made it 6-0.

Garrett Atkins added an RBI double in the seventh. Holliday hit his 29th homer in the ninth off Fabio Castro.

"I just try to do something positive every day," said Holliday, who has a career-high 116 RBIs. "It's a good place to hit."

Rollins ripped a liner into the left-field seats for Philadelphia's first run. The 5-foot-8 shortstop trails only Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez with 337 total bases.

Rollins has 35 doubles, 17 triples and 30 stolen bases. No major league player has ever had 40 doubles, 20 triples, 30 homers and 30 steals in one season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Only one player -- Jim Bottomley of the 1928 St. Louis Cardinals -- ever had 40 doubles, 20 triples and 30 homers.

Game notes
After going 6-15 in the first 21 games against left-handers, the Phillies are 17-9 against southpaws since. ... Helton is hitting .379 (22-for-58) with six homers and 13 RBIs against Eaton. ... Phillies LF Pat Burrell walked for the 100th time this season, setting a career high. ... Holliday has eight career multihomer games, including two this season. ... Rockies bench coach Jamie Quirk and Hurdle were ejected in the ninth after Helton was called out on strikes.