Rockies' De La Rosa holds down Dodgers
DENVER -- In the Colorado Rockies' 21st season, Jorge De La Rosa is bidding to become the first pitcher in franchise history to lead the National League in wins.
De La Rosa earned his 16th victory Wednesday night, tying for the league lead, as the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-5.
The win was De La Rosa's sixth straight, and the 16 victory match his career high. The Washington Nationals' Jordan Zimmermann also recorded his 16th win Wednesday.
De La Rosa (16-6) held the Dodgers to two runs in six innings. To varying degrees since mid-June, he has dealt with a bone bruise in his left thumb.
"It's still sore, but I want to pitch," De La Rosa said. "It's not worse. It's not better. It's the same. It just needs rest to get better. I had good fastball command, and my changeup was really good. I mixed them up."
Rockies reliever Manuel Corpas had a big hand in the victory. After Matt Belisle gave up three runs in the eighth, cutting Colorado's lead to two runs, Corpas entered with runners on first and third and struck out pinch hitters Carl Crawford and Yasiel Puig.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly also had Adrian Gonzalez on his bench. Gonzalez pinch-hit in the seventh and struck out against left-hander Josh Outman, who left after retiring Gonzalez with runners on first and second and no out.
"I tried to get Adrian a shot with some guys on base, and they ended up getting a pretty good matchup," Mattingly said. "We get shots, and the inning that hurts us is obviously the seventh. I thought we had the right matchup there. It just didn't work out."
Colorado's Wilton Lopez took over for Outman and got two groundouts to end the threat.
Dodgers reliever Carlos Marmol gave up three runs (two earned) in the seventh, allowing the Rockies to build a five-run lead.
Colorado closer Rex Brothers gave up a leadoff walk in the ninth but got Michael Young to hit into a game-ending double play to pick up his 15th save.
The loss ended a six-game winning streak for the Dodgers, who are 36-7 since the All-Star break and had won 19 of their previous 23 games against NL West opponents.
In his first start for the Dodgers, Edinson Volquez (9-11) went four innings and gave up four runs on six hits. In six starts against the Rockies this season, the first five with the San Diego Padres, Volquez is 0-5 with a 12.43 ERA. However, Volquez retired the final six batters he faced and felt he made strides while implementing a move from the first base side of the rubber to the third base side at the suggestion of pitching coach Rick Honeycutt.
Volquez said he stood on the third base side of the rubber in 2008, his best season in the majors, when he went 17-6 with a 3.21 ERA for the Cincinnati Reds and made the All-Star team. After missing most of the 2009 season, he was moved to the first base side when he returned during the 2010 season.
"I used to open my front side a little bit, when I used to be on the first base side," Volquez said. "I see my hand right away. From the third base side, I hide the ball a little bit and keep aligned to the plate. I feel very good because I was doing something I used to do, and I was successful with it. Now I think I'm going to be more consistent, too. No walks today."
Volquez gave up two hard-hit balls in the first inning -- a triple by Josh Rutledge, who went 3-for-4 and scored three runs, followed by Troy Tulowitzki's double -- and a sacrifice fly. In the second, Volquez yielded a home run to Todd Helton, whose high fly just cleared the out-of-town scoreboard.
Michael Cuddyer went 2-for-2 with a sacrifice fly and intentional walk and took over the NL batting lead with a .331 average, one point ahead of Atlanta's Chris Johnson.
It was a sloppy game for the Dodgers, who were guilty of three wild pitches, a passed ball, a throwing error and a run-scoring balk by Marmol. Third baseman Juan Uribe failed to tag out Rutledge in a rundown that helped the Rockies score a run in the third.
Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado left the game in the fifth with a right thumb contusion and is listed day-to-day. He drew an error in the fourth, pulling Helton off first base with a high throw.
"His thumb has been bothering him for the past few weeks," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "That time he grounded out (in the third), it blew up on him. You could see when he tried to throw the ball across the infield, he had no feeling in his thumb."
NOTES: Dodgers LHP Chris Capuano will start Friday at Cincinnati in place of LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu, who has mid-back stiffness. Mattingly said the move was more of a precaution, and Ryu will start next Tuesday or Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. ... Puig left Monday's game with discomfort behind his right knee, and he didn't play Tuesday. ... Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood came through a bullpen session fine and will start Saturday at San Diego. He came out of his Sunday start with a bruised right thumb, the result of being hit with a line drive. ... Rockies RHP Roy Oswalt (left hamstring strain) threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings Tuesday for rookie-level Grand Junction. Manager Walt Weiss said Oswalt would pitch for the Rockies this weekend but declined to say whether he would start or relieve. ... De La Rosa established his career high in wins when he went 16-9 in 2009.
