Rockies 3 - 4 Pirates
Final/14
  for this game

Rockies go after fifth straight win in Steel City

Apr 8, 2011 - 3:23 PM (Sports Network) - The Colorado Rockies aim to continue their excellent start to this 2011 season in tonight's second test of a four-game series with the Pittsburgh Pirates from PNC Park.

The Rockies have won four straight games following an extra-inning loss to Arizona on Opening Day, and outstanding starting pitching has been at the forefront of the team's winning streak. Colorado starters have gone 4-0 with a 1.82 earned run average over that stretch, a very positive sign for a club that will be without ace Ubaldo Jimenez for at least a couple of weeks because of an injured thumb.

Jorge De La Rosa began Colorado's strong string by shutting down the Diamondbacks in his season debut last Saturday. The talented lefty yielded just three hits and one walk while striking out five before exiting after only 5 1/3 innings due to a blister on his pitching hand, a problem that has since healed.

De La Rosa sports a 3-2 record with a 4.06 ERA over 10 career appearances (six starts) against Pittsburgh, though he went 0-1 in a pair of matchups with the Bucs last season.

Esmil Rogers carried on the Rockies' recent pitching prowess in Thursday's opener of this set, with the young Dominican delivering 7 1/3 strong innings and helping Colorado spoil Pittsburgh's 2011 home opener with a 7-1 triumph.

Rogers held the Pirates to four hits and struck out a career-best seven hitters in the longest outing of his major-league tenure. The 25-year-old worked primarily out of the bullpen as a rookie last season.

"I felt great with all of my pitches," said Rogers, who retired 18 consecutive Pittsburgh hitters at one point of the game.

Troy Tulowitzki gave Rogers all the support he would need by going 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBI, while Carlos Gonzalez drove in a pair of runs for Colorado. Rogers helped his cause as well by singling and scoring during a two-run seventh inning.

Paul Maholm took the loss for Pittsburgh after surrendering five runs (three earned) over 5 2/3 innings, while Andrew McCutchen knocked in the team's lone run with a first-inning groundout.

The Pirates had won four of their first six games under new manager Clint Hurdle, who served as the Rockies' skipper for eight seasons from 2002-09 and piloted that franchise to its only World Series appearance back in 2007.

Hurdle's new team will attempt to bounce back tonight behind Ross Ohlendorf, who hopes his 2010 woes are a thing of the past. The right-hander endured a miserable and injury-plagued season last year in which he posted a 1-11 record over 21 starts and missed time with both back and shoulder problems.

Ohlendorf's winless drought continued in his first start of 2011, although he was spared a potential loss in Sunday's 5-4 win over the Chicago Cubs when the Pirates rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth inning. He pitched a total of six frames and was reached for four runs on eight hits while walking four.

The Princeton product is 1-1 with a 5.09 ERA over four career starts against Colorado, and pitched very well in a no-decision against the Rockies at PNC Park last August. In that game Ohlendorf allowed just two runs -- one earned -- and fanned six in six innings.

Pittsburgh won four of its seven matchups with the Rockies in 2010, with the teams splitting a four-game set in the Steel City last August.






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