Correia stays hot, shuts down Rockies offense Pirates win in Hurdle's first game back as visiting manager By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com | 4/29/2011 11:35 PM ET DENVER -- It's probably still too early to bestow the 'staff ace' label upon Kevin Correia. His early impact in the Pirates' rotation, however, cannot be understated. Correia capped off a stellar month of April by notching win No. 4 with arguably his strongest start yet. Not only did the Pirates ride it to a 3-0 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field on Friday night, but the outing further solidified Correia's standing as one of the best offseason free agent signs to this point. Correia had already notched a complete game this month. He had outdueled Chris Carpenter with seven scoreless innings prior to that. And then there was his effort on Friday, an effort that was at least as good as either of those other two outings. Facing one of the league's better offenses in an undeniably hitter-friendly park, Correia helped the Pirates become the first team this year to keep the Rockies off the scoreboard. He limited the club to three singles and four baserunners total in 6 2/3 innings. He retired the first seven hitters he faced. And after allowing a single, he retired the next seven in order as well. Manager Clint Hurdle pulled Correia after Seth Smith's two-out single in the seventh, but Jose Veras ensured Correia's line stayed clean by stranding Smith at first. With the win, Correia became the first Pirates pitcher since Jeff Suppan in 2003 to win four games in April. He finished the month with a 2.90 ERA and 40 1/3 innings pitched. A pair of solo homers and an RBI triple provided Correia with more than enough support on a frigid and sometimes snowy night at the ballpark. Andrew McCutchen had the first homer, dropping a one-out shot into the right-field bullpen in the third. The blast gave the Pirates an early 1-0 lead, and also ended Jhoulys Chacin's scoreless innings streak at home. The Colorado starter had not given up a run in his first 18 innings at Coors Field this year. Garrett Jones delivered the second shot. Hooking a ball just inside the right-field foul pole, Jones bumped his team-leading home run total to five. The sixth-inning homer was one of two hits for Jones, who is now hitting .341 on the road this season. In the seventh, Pittsburgh finally discarded the distinction of being the only team not to have hit a triple this year. The first three-base hit came from Ronny Cedeno. The triple plated Pedro Alvarez, who had preceded Cedeno with a two-out single. With April not yet over, the Pirates have already collected eight road wins. The club had 17 victories away from home all of last season. This also marked the second shutout pitched by the Pirates this season. The first came just two days earlier. --

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