The Rockies split a four game series with the Philadelphia Phillies earlier this week. No starting pitcher for the Rox earned a win. But the series was memorable due to starting pitcher Jorge de la Rosa became the Rockies’ all-time strikeout leader after his start in the final game.
Game 1: Rockies 3, Phillies 4- The Phillies opened up the scoring in the top of the first inning. The Rox answered in the bottom of the second inning when second baseman DJ LeMahieu hit a single to right field to score first baseman Wilin Rosario. Things got quiet for the next few innings until the Phills spoiled a good start by Lyles by scoring three runs in the top of the sixth inning. Lyles would earn the loss and through six frames, gave up four earned runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out three. The Rox rallied with single runs in the eighth and ninth off RBI singles by Carlos Gonzalez and Charlie Blackmon, but it was not enough. The Rockies were befuddled by Phillies ace Cole Hamels, who had one earned run and recorded seven strikeouts against only one walk.
Game 2: Rockies 6, Phillies 5- Colorado got to work early, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a two run triple by Rosario. He later came around to score thanks on catcher Nick Hundley’s RBI single. But the Phillies answered with a two-run second inning, and by the end of the third inning the score was tied. The score would remain knotted until the seventh, when the Rox went up 5-3 thanks to a two run double by shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. That lead would be short lived, as the Phillies scored two of their own in the top of the eighth. But the Rox were lifted to victory thanks to a solo shot by Hundley in the bottom of the eighth. Rockies’ starter Chad Bettis was effective through six innings, giving up three earned runs on eight hits while walking none and punching out five. John Axford notched his fifth save of the season in the win.
Game 3: Rockies 2, Phillies 4- The Phillies got to Rockies’ starter Eddie Butler early, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning. They got two more in the third, and Butler would exit after only three frames, leaving him with an outing in which he gave up four runs (two earned) on six hits with two base on balls and two strikeouts. The Rockies sprinkled some offense throughout the contest, with a run in the fourth courtesy of an RBI single from CarGo, and another in the seventh when Hundley scored Rosario with an RBI groundout. But that was all the offense the Rox would produce. Butler’s sloppy start dug a hole too big for Colorado’s offense to emerge from.
Game 4: Rockies 7, Phillies 3- The Rox brought their bats to the series finale. The Phillies got the scoring started in the third inning, scoring a lone run off of starter Jorge de la Rosa. But the Rockies answered right back in their half of the third. Tulowitzki scored Blackmon and LeMahieu with an RBI single, and left fielder Brandon Barnes, who had just been called up from AAA Albuquerque, scored Gonzalez with an RBI single. Barnes would go 4-4 in the game. In the fifth, the Phillies plated two more, but again the Rox answered, this time, with a two-run home run by catcher Michael McKenry. Third baseman Daniel Descalso and pinch hitter Nolan Arenado would hit RBI singles in the seventh to end the scoring and make the score 7-3. Although de la Rosa labored through 4? innings, he set the Rockies franchise record in strikeouts with 774, surpassing Ubaldo Jimenez.
The Rockies have yet to win a series in the month of May, and after splitting a four game series with San Francisco will look to best the Reds in Cincinnati this week.
Contact CU Independent Rockies Beat Writer Justin Guerriero at justin.guerriero@colorado.edu and follow him on Twitter @TheHungry_Hippo
