Not even Aaron Cook could salvage a bit of pride for the free-falling Rockies, who arrive at Coors Field to open interleague play against Minnesota on Friday having seen their latest losing streak extended to five games with an 8-5 loss at Arizona on Thursday.

Cook provided the Rockies with what turned out to be their only victory in the six-game road trip, a 4-2 win at San Diego on May 9. This time, he saw his six-start winning streak broken in what was his shortest and least effective effort of the season.

He came out after five innings, having allowed five runs. Now the Rockies are left to wonder what's next after seeing their record slip 11 games below .500 for the first time since the end of the 2006 season, and with Cook not scheduled to pitch again until Tuesday against San Francisco.

"Anytime you look up and I have six strikeouts in five innings, you know I'm not getting the ball where I am supposed to get it," said Cook, whose calling card is one of the hardest sinkers in the big leagues. "The frustration for me is not giving my team a chance to win the game."

The five-game losing streak equals the Rockies' longest of the season. It is seventh time they have had a multiple-game losing streak. Cook has been the starting pitcher to end six of those slides.

The Rockies now look for refuge at Coors Field, where they have played only 17 of 41 games (winning only seven). Friday night they face the Twins, a team they have played only once before in the regular season -- five years ago.

"We have unfamiliar faces and a change in environment," manager Clint Hurdle said. "It will be good to go home. We need to find our way back from where we are, and (Friday night) would be a good place to start."

Where the Rockies are playing and who they are playing, however, won't matter if they don't start playing better. The only thing standing between them and the worst record in baseball is San Diego -- which is 15-27 compared to the Rockies' 15-26 -- and the Rockies lost two of three games to the Padres last weekend at Petco Park.

"We are aware of where and why we are here," Hurdle said. "Now it's a matter of going out and doing something about it."

Cook had been the one player who seemed to make a difference. The Rockies are, after all, 6-2 in his eight starts -- 9-24 in all other games. And his six quality starts (minimum six innings, maximum three earned runs) are one more than the total for the rest of the Rockies rotation.

DIAMONDBACKS 8, ROCKIES 5: The Rockies continued to struggle early, trailing 5-0 through six innings. They failed to score in the first five innings in five of the six games on their just-completed road trip.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.