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De Le Rosa pitches Rockies to sweep

Sep 26, 2008 - 5:51 AM By Al Barba PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Jorge De La Rosa pitched seven scoreless innings on Thursday to lead the Colorado Rockies to a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

De La Rosa (10-8) allowed three hits and two walks while striking out seven in helping the Rockies complete the three-game series sweep of the Giants. The 27-year-old lefthander, who reached 10 wins for the first time in his career, also had an RBI single en route to his second victory in as many starts and fourth in six outings.

"He has so much more confidence now," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "(De La Rosa) used to just hope to get out of an inning, now he knows he can get out of an inning."

The Giants managed to get only one runner as far as third base against De La Rosa. Bengie Molina singled to lead off the second inning, moved to second on a passed ball and reached third on a wild pitch.

Molina tried to score on the next pitch as De La Rosa uncorked another errant toss but was thrown out at the plate by catcher Chris Iannetta.

"I don't know what happened. I think I was overthrowing a little bit," De La Rosa said of his brief lapse of control. "After that, I started throwing much better."

The Giants scored their lone run in the eighth, when Manny Corpas gave up an RBI single by rookie John Bowker before giving way to closer Brian Fuentes for the ninth.

Fuentes worked around a leadoff single by Rich Aurilia and a one-out walk to Scott McClain to register his 30th save.

Matt Holliday drove in the game's first run in the opening inning, delivering a base hit that plated Troy Tulowitzki, who reached second on rookie shortstop Ivan Ochoa's fielding error. Clint Barmes capped the scoring with his career-high 11th home run off San Francisco starter Barry Zito (10-17) in the seventh.

"It'd be a lot nicer, obviously, to play some games that meant a little bit more and had a chance to get to the playoffs," Barmes said. "But we're still coming to the ballpark, still playing and competing.

"I feel comfortable at the plate right now and don't feel like I'm trying to do too much. The biggest key is I'm getting some pitches to hit and I'm not missing them."

Zito suffered the hard-luck loss, yielding three runs and six hits in a season high-tying eight innings. The 2002 American League Cy Young Award winner walked four and struck out five in falling to 4-2 in his last eight starts.

"I've been through a lot this year. I think I've learned a lot this year as well," Zito said. "I feel I've applied that knowledge back into the way I know I can pitch. It's nice to know. I'll be ready to go in a couple more months. I have to wait now until spring."