North Delta, B.C.'s Jeff Francis gave up three hits in eight strong innings and Jeff Baker hit his first homer of the season to help the Colorado Rockies beat the error-prone Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 on Sunday.

Francis (12-11) struck out five and did not walk a batter as Colorado snapped a three-game losing streak. Brian Fuentes pitched the ninth to complete the three-hitter.

The teams returned to Chase Field for a game that began less than 14 hours after the end of Saturday night's game, a 16-inning 7-6 Arizona victory. The Diamondbacks looked like they had overslept their wake-up call.

After Colorado took a 1-0 second-inning lead on back-to-back doubles by Baker and Brad Hawpe, Arizona committed three errors in the space of two batters.

With one out and runners at first and second, Francis bunted to Diamondbacks pitcher Miguel Batista, who was charged with an error when he couldn't pick up the ball in time to make a throw to first.

The next batter, Kazuo Matsui, grounded to first base. Conor Jackson saw the ball bounce off his glove for a fielding error, and then he threw it past Batista, who was covering first. Two runs scored, with Matsui receiving credit for an RBI fielder's choice.

That was all Batista (10-7) allowed in six innings. He gave up three runs, one earned, and three hits. Batista, who walked three and struck out three, has one victory in his last 11 starts.

Arizona didn't look much livelier at the plate against Francis, who entered the game with a 5-1 career record against the Diamondbacks.

Francis allowed only a double to Eric Byrnes through four innings, retiring 10 consecutive batters at one point.

With one out in the fifth, Orlando Hudson tripled to centre field and scored on Chris Snyder's bouncer to third base to cut Colorado's lead to 3-1.

The only other hit allowed by the Rockies was a single by Luis Gonzalez in the seventh.

Colorado went up 5-1 on Baker's two-run homer off reliever Greg Aquino in the eighth. It was the second career homer for Baker, who was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs Sept. 8.

Arizona was charged with its fourth error when pitcher Enrique Gonzalez made a throwing error in the ninth inning.

Notes: Gonzalez received standing ovations as he came to bat throughout the weekend. He finished the game 1-for-4. ... 10 of Arizona's last 13 games are against the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, who are battling for the NL West title. The Diamondbacks open a three-game series at San Diego Tuesday night.

© The Canadian Press, 2007