Pacheco drives in 4 and Rockies' Prospects excel

Jeff Francis down Saturday but Rockies win

Jordan Pacheco drove in four runs and the Rockies banged out 16 hits to win at San Diego on a night when usually reliable Jeff Francis looked shaky - five runs and eight hits allowed in five innings.

Interesting that Francis, picked out of the garbage pile in 2012, figuratively speaking, has far exceeded what trade acquisition Jeremy Guthrie, since shipped to Kansas City, was able to accomplish.

Francis has given the Rockies reasonably good starts in five of his nine starts (56 percent) while Guthrie only managed to do such in five of his 14 starts (36 percent).

Christian Friedrich starts Sunday for the Rockies and in two starts this season against the Padres he has allowed three runs, two earned in 11 innings, striking out 12, walking but one. While one of those games was in Denver, Friedrich's home ERA, a startling bad 8.23.On the road, it's under 4.00 so that, in addition to his success against the Padres seems to infer he could be competitive-to-good today.

Rockies' Prospects Spotlight

David Dahl, the Rockies' first-round pick in the 2012 draft, is a talented hitter. Having Rockies' legend Todd Helton in Grand Junction for a rehab stint can't hurt Dahl, as he can talk, at least a little to Helton, and observe his work habits and hitting approach.Dahl is likely impressing Helton too as the young outfielder has gone 4-for-9 in the two games the teammates have played together, pushing his average to .336.

Reliever Scott Oberg threw a scoreless 9th inning and lowered his ERA to a shiny 0.96.

At High-A Modesto, Christian Bergman continued his stellar season, throwing six shutout innings, winning his 13th game and lowering his ERA to 2.70. Bergman stepped forward in 2011 at Tri-City and hasn't slowed down in 2012. He's a player to watch in 2013 at Double-A Tulsa, a place he might get an invitation from before the end of this season, because he knows how to pitch and produces consistently. His stuff can be hit and he's not a strikeout pitcher so those are concerns but he's smart and effective.

Meanwhile, Bergman's teammate Kyle Parker belted three more hits and now has his average up to .319. How hot is the Nuts' outfielder? He has five games of three hits or more in his last 10 games. He's hitting .541 (20-for-37) in his last nine contests.

Double-A third baseman Nolan Arenado went 0-for-3 and saw his average dip to .258. His season at Tulsa has not gone as expected. He has to find his stroke and confidence again.

Triple-A outfielder Matt McBride had three hits and is now hitting .358 on the season.

Pitcher Nick Schmidt threw six innings of no-run, one-hit ball. He had been struggling since his promotion from Double-A.