Major League Baseball

Rockies 19, Astros 3

Published Sep. 26, 2011 1:38 a.m. ET

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One after another, the hits kept on coming for the Colorado Rockies.

One double, one triple, four homers and 19 singles sprayed around Minute Maid Park.

''This was one of those special days when everything lined up and we came out on top,'' Chris Iannetta said Sunday after the Rockies set a team record with 25 hits in a 19-3 rout of the Houston Astros. ''You can't really tell what's going to happen. Even if you score five or six runs, you never know if it's going to keep going.''

Jordan Pacheco, Ty Wigginton and Tommy Field had four hits each for the Rockies, who broke the previous team mark of 24, accomplished most recently in a 16-4 win at Pittsburgh on Aug. 2, 2003.

Kevin Kouzmanoff and Iannetta each drove in five runs.

''I wouldn't have thought, with no disrespect meant, that it would have been done with the patched up lineup that we have,'' Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. ''But we swung the bats today. We executed with runners at third.''

Kouzmanoff had a sacrifice fly in the fifth, then hit two-run homers in the seventh off Lance Pendleton and the eighth against Xavier Cedeno. Three batters later, Iannetta hit a three-run drive.

Kevin Millwood (4-3) hit a two-run homer off Pendleton in the sixth, Millwood's second of the season and fourth of his big league career.

''It's cool they did it when I was pitching,'' Millwood said. ''It's nice get a bunch of runs on the board. It doesn't make the game easier but it makes my plan simpler.''

Millwood just wanted to get his batters back on the field quickly.

''I feel good I was able to keep those guys down and have some quick innings,'' he said. ''With the offense putting up that many runs, it makes my job easier.''

The 16-run margin of defeat tied the Houston record, accomplished five times previously, according to STATS LLC. The only other time at home was a 17-1 loss to the Mets on Aug. 30, 1999.

The 19 runs allowed matched the second-most in franchise history, trailing only a 22-7 loss at the Chicago Cubs on June 3, 1987. It also was the second-most hits allowed behind 26 in an 18-2 defeat at Cincinnati on Aug. 3, 1989.

''We tried to stop the dike, and we couldn't do it,'' Astros manager Brad Mills said. ''It got away and we tried to come back, but we kept getting behind in the count and giving up chances to swing the bat a little bit. Something like this is never fun.''

Houston, a major league-worst 55-104, finishes with a three-game series against St. Louis, which headed to Texas one game behind Atlanta in the NL wild-card race.

Millwood didn't allow a hit after the third inning and retired 13 of his last 14 batters. He gave up one run - unearned - and three hits in seven innings.

Colorado won its second straight after stopping a nine-game losing streak.

Lucas Harrell (0-2), starting because Bud Norris has biceps tendinitis, allowed five runs - three earned - and seven hits in three innings.

''It's definitely tough,'' Harrell said. ''I saw guys hit good pitches. It was one of those days where they were hitting it well. Everything they were hitting found a hole. They couldn't do anything wrong.''

NOTES: Rookie Chris Nelson became the second player in Colorado's history to drive in the game-winning run on an extra-inning, bases-loaded walk in Saturday night's 4-2, 13-inning victory. ... Colorado's Eric Young has 26 steals this season, including 22 since his recall on July 22.

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