DENVER (Ticker) -- Shawn Chacon carried his success from spring training over to the regular season.
Chacon retired the first 16 batters he faced and Chris Stynes homered as the Colorado Rockies opened their home schedule with a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
A 25-year-old righthander, Chacon had a solid spring in he which led all Cactus League pitchers with a 1.64 ERA and tied for the lead with four wins.
He contiuned that success against the Diamondbacks and did not allow a baserunner until Chad Moeller reached on a wind-blown double with one out in the sixth inning.
Chacon (1-0) gave up one other hit, a solo homer to Steve Finley, in the seventh. He left after the inning, striking out eight without a walk.
"For me to get the start at home, the season opener here, and pitch the way I did, I couldn't have asked for anything better," said Chacon, who went to high school in Colorado. "That's the way I wanted it to go."
"Chacon pitched real well," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "He established the tone early. Momentum is built from your starting pitchers and we got some in Houston yesterday and we got some more today."
Todd Jones pitched a perfect eighth and Jose Jimenez worked around pinch hitter Carlos Baerga's leadoff single in the ninth for the save. He struck out Junior Spivey with Baerga at third to end the game.
Making his first start since 2000, Byung-Hyun Kim (0-1) yielded two runs and five hits in five-plus innings. The former closer walked one and struck out three.
"I think I pitched a little bit today," Kim said through an interpreter. "I can throw more. I had a tough time finding my breaking ball, like a slider or curve."
Kim matched Chacon for the first four innings, not allowing more than one runner in each frame while working around two hits and a walk.
After retiring Charles Johnson to start the bottom of the fifth, Kim grooved a 3-2 pitch that Stynes deposited just over the left field wall.
"Both pitchers were out there doing a great job," Stynes said. "I got a 3-2 count, a fastball situation to hit in. I really didn't think it was going to go out with the wind blowing the way it did. Fortunately, it did."
"BK threw real well," Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly said. "The only pitch I was unhappy with was the home run that Stynes hit. You don't want to walk him in that situation. He threw a fastball right down the middle of the plate and Stynes put a good swing on it and managed to beat it through the wind in left field. I was extremely pleased with BK today."
Chacon was even better than Kim, striking out five through the first five innings. He fanned rookie Lyle Overbay to start the sixth before Moeller lifted a fly ball into right-center field that landed on the warning track just out of the reach of Larry Walker.
"I thought about it (perfect game), I knew about it," Chacon said. "But I kept telling myself it didn't matter. This is probably the best win for me."
"Early on, he was really relaxed out there," said Johnson, the Rockies' catcher. "When the game started, you could tell he was in control. The most impressive thing about today is that he really pitched. A lot of guys come out on Opening Day and want to throw the ball, rare back and throw 95, 95, 95. But he threw 88 to 94 and mixed his pitches."
Chacon pitched out of trouble. He got Kim to ground out to first and struck out Tony Womack to end the inning.
Kim looked like he started to tire in the bottom of the inning as Jay Payton led off with a double into deep right-center field and Todd Helton followed with an RBI single to give Colorado a 2-0 lead.
Kim was replaced by rookie Oscar Villarreal, who retired three straight batters to avert further trouble.
Finley finally got the Diamondbacks on the board when he started the seventh by sending a 2-1 pitch over the right field wall. It was the Diamondbacks' first homer in four games.
Jimenez, who retired just one batter and was ripped for six runs and five hits in the ninth inning Wednesday against Houston, looked like he might struggle again in this one after Baerga ripped a single into right field to start the ninth.
Baerga moved to second on a sacrifice by Womack and went to third on a groundout by Finley. But he was stranded when Jimenez struck out Spivey to end it.
