Coors win eludes Hudson despite solid outing vs. Rox

DENVER -- Tim Hudson has had his share of adventuresome outings at Coors Field. He made his ninth start at the 20-year-old ballpark Saturday night, and he climbed the hill with a 7.29 ERA in Colorado and nary a win to his name.

Seven innings and three runs later, Hudson walked off the mound with his head held high -- and with a 4-3 lead. When the Rockies tied it with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, he lost his chance to claim victory at Coors Field, but the team bounced back and won the game, 5-4, on a safety-squeeze bunt in the 11th.

"The main thing is that we won the ballgame," Hudson said. "Obviously I had a chance to personally get a notch in the win column here, but this game would have really stung if we'd have lost, just from a team standpoint. I gave us a good chance to win."

Hudson gave up eight hits and no walks. He stayed away from the middle of the plate, kept the ball down in the zone for the most part, and was able to keep the Rockies off balance with his offspeed pitches.

"He mixed his pitches well," said Corey Dickerson, who entered the game hitting 6-for-11 with three homers on the homestand, but was 0-for-3 against Hudson. "He threw strikes and got ahead of a lot of hitters. Some of us got ourselves out. You've got to have a better approach against a guy like that who's been around and is really crafty."

The 39-year-old right-hander is well-suited to judge the dynamics of pitching at Coors Field, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of its first game on Sunday.

"It's never comfortable," Hudson said. "Anything can happen. If you have a one-run lead, you feel like it's a tie ballgame. You don't want to go into extra innings with this club. They have a good lineup, and the best hitter's park in the game, so it's not a good combination for the opposing team coming in here. We were able to do what we needed to win. It wasn't easy, but we did it."

Hudson kept his own winless streak in perspective and focused on the impact the extra-inning affair could have on a Giants club just starting to find its footing.

"These are the kind of wins that'll get us going as a team," Hudson said. "Tough, grind-'em-out, coming to a tough place to play against a really good team. We needed it. We've played a little bit better over the last week or so, but we don't want to go into [Sunday] trying to salvage one game. We can go into tomorrow now hoping to win the series. It's a position you always want to be in."