DENVER (Ticker) -- Rookie starter Aaron Cook appears to have figured out how to pitch to the San Diego Padres at Coors Field.
Cook yielded five hits in his first career complete game and Jay Payton and Chris Stynes homered during a five-run fifth inning as the Colorado Rockies coasted to a 12-1 rout of the Padres.
Colorado's 2002 Minor League Pitcher of the Year, Cook (1-1) struck out four and walked three en route to his third career win and second at the Rockies' hitter-friendly ballpark.
"I probably threw 85-90 percent fastballs tonight and had success," Cook said. "I just got back to my old self. I had that feeling of ball coming off my fingers. I had sink on the ball and the guys making the plays behind me."
The 24-year-old righthander's other success in Denver came on September 6, when Cook pitched seven solid innings for his first major league win in a 7-3 victory over San Diego.
"He had a very good powerful sinking fastball tonight, both sides of the plate," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "We saw it all through the spring. Then, we didn't see it for a couple starts and he picked it up back in San Diego and continued to build some momentum with it tonight."
Cook registered the first complete game by a Colorado hurler since Denny Neagle accomplished the feat on August 30 at San Diego. That was the Rockies' lone complete game last season.
"Once (his ball) gets to the hitting zone, it really explodes. Sometimes it takes off and sometimes it sinks real hard," Rockies catcher Charles Johnson said. "I think the last couple outings we were trying to be too fine. We decided, 'Hey, let's go right at 'em. ... Here it is, see what happens.' And he did that today."
The Rockies already had a 3-0 advantage when Payton led off the fifth and drove the 1-1 pitch from San Diego starter Oliver Perez (0-2) over the left-center field wall to trigger the outburst.
"We finally started swinging the bats a little bit," Payton said. "And you can't say enough about what Aaron did, he pitched a great game for us."
The Rockies have homered in 15 straight games.
There were two outs and a runner on second when Jose Hernandez's RBI triple made it 5-0. Charles Johnson then reached on error by third baseman Sean Burroughs, allowing Hernandez to score.
Stynes' two-run shot with two outs capped the surge and opened a commanding 8-0 cushion.
The third baseman matched his career high with four RBI. Stynes also drove in four runs on July 15, 2001 at Montreal.
Meanwhile, the Padres slipped to 1-3 on their season-high 12-game, 15-day road trip.
"We struggled, there's not much else to say," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "They outpitched and outhit us. Cook threw a great game for them."
Rookie Shane Victorino spoiled Cook's shutout bid and recorded his first career RBI on a sacrifice fly in the ninth, but the Padres lost for the fourth time in six games.
"(I was) a little anxious and I started to lose a little bit of energy," Cook said. "It was just one of those things, the fans stand up and start cheering and the adrenaline takes over."
The Rockies improved to 6-1 at Coors Field in 2003.
