Jorge De La Rosa Flirts With A No-Hitter As The Colorado Rockies Defeat The San Diego Padres
By Andrew Dill
May 2, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies pitcher Jorge De La Rosa (29) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the New York Mets at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports
The Colorado Rockies (24-19) needed a boost from their offense as they returned to Coors Field on a three-game skid. They wouldn’t exactly get the boost from the offense they wanted, but they would get a stellar outing from their ace Jorge De La Rosa who collected his 5th win of the season.
De La Rosa was mowing down San Diego’s lineup and this was easily his best outing of the 2014 campaign. He faced one batter over the minimum through his seven innings pitched as his no-hitter was broken up in the top half of the seventh innings by Chris Denorfia who led off with a triple off the wall in right. Jorge ended up finishing with a line of seven innings pitched, one hit, one walk, while striking out five. Walt Weiss decided to go with Adam Ottavino in the eighth inning even though De La Rosa only had thrown 89 pitches.
Colorado’s bats were relatively quiet against Padres starter Eric Stults who has pitched well against Colorado throughout his career. After a Justin Morneau single, Jordan Pacheco grounded into a fielder’s choice as Morneau was out at second. DJ LeMahieu would follow-up with a double placing runners at second and third with two outs. Jorge De La Rosa grounded the ball to second and would hustle down the line to beat out the thrown from Jedd Gyorko, who was charged with an error on the play. Pacheco would end up scoring giving Colorado the 1-0 lead in the fifth.
DJ LeMahieu would single to center off of Stults in the seventh and would eventually be sacrificed over by Jorge De La Rosa with one out for Charlie Blackmon. Blackmon would collect his 30th RBI of the season as he singled to right-center, scoring LeMahieu to expand the lead to two.
In the bottom half of the eighth inning, Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado would see two questionable pitches low in the zone called for strikes as he would strike out looking. He would precede to argue with home plate umpire Seth Buckminster and would get tossed as he was walking away. Colorado would add one more run later in the inning as Jordan Pacheco drove in Tulowitzki with an RBI single to left putting them up 3-0.
San Diego would tack on a run in the top half of the ninth off of Rockies closer LaTroy Hawkins as Chase Headley singled up the middle to plate Chris Denorfia, reducing the Rockies lead to two, 3-1
Notable Rockies Hitters:
- Charlie Blackmon: 1-for-4, RBI.
- Drew Stubbs: 2-for-4, 2B.
- DJ LeMahieu: 2-for-3, 2B.
Rockies Pitching:
- Jorge De La Rosa (W, 5-3): 7.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 SO. 89 pitches, 58 strikes.
- Adam Ottavino: 0.2 IP, 1 H.
- Boone Logan: 0.1 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO.
- LaTroy Hawkins (S, 10): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER.
The Colorado Rockies (24-19) defeat the San Diego Padres, 3-1. San Diego will send lefty Robbin Erlin (2-4, 4.22) to the hill in game two of a three-game set Saturday night as Colorado counters with Jordan Lyles (5-0, 2.66 ERA). First-pitch is scheduled for 8:10 PM ET, 6:10 PM MT.