The St. Louis Cardinals begin a four game series against the Colorado Rockies in Denver, Monday afternoon, losing the opener 6-2.

The Rockies scored first in the bottom of the 1 st inning on a Matt Holliday solo home run, his 9 th round-tripper of the season on a line drive to right-centerfield.

Colorado picked up two more runs in the 5 th inning to take a 3-0 lead.

They added to their lead with three runs in the bottom of the 7 th , two of them coming on Brad Hawpe’s sixth home run of the season with one on.

The Cards finally got on the scoreboard in the 8 th inning, when So Taguchi hit his first home run of the year, a blast to left field, with one on. That chased Rockies’ starter and winning pitcher Jeff Francis (4-4). But the Cards could do no more.

Redbirds’ starter and losing pitcher Kip Wells (2-9) went 6 1/3 innings innings, giving up 5 earned runs, striking out three batters.

The Cardinals (20-28) and Rockies (24-27) play again Tuesday night at Coors Field. Braden Looper (6-3) goes to the mound for the Redbirds against Colorado’s Rodrigo Lopez (1-0).