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De La Rosa pitches Rockies past Diamondbacks

Sep 20, 2008 - 5:23 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Jorge De La Rosa dealt a blow to the playoff hopes of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The lefthander tossed six strong innings and Garrett Atkins collected three hits and an RBI as the Colorado Rockies hung on for a 3-2 triumph over the Diamondbacks on Friday.

Chris Iannetta and Clint Barmes belted solo home runs for the Rockies, who have won three in a row and four of five.

De La Rosa (9-8) limited Arizona to one run and three hits in posting his third win in four decisions. The 27-year-old walked two and struck out six.

"I'm just trying to throw strikes," De La Rosa said. "I was wild in the fourth. I made better pitches and I can control my emotions, so that helps."

"I thought there was some improvement made," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "You give up one run, three hits in six innings in the major leagues, that's a good outing."

Adam Dunn and Mark Reynolds homered for the Diamondbacks (76-77), who had their four-game winning streak snapped and remained 3 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. The Dodgers suffered a 7-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Friday.

"We really need wins," Arizona rookie starter Max Scherzer said. "It's the point in time where they are even that much more important."

Colorado wasted little time getting to Scherzer, scoring a run in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead.

Willy Taveras led off the first with a single and Brad Hawpe delivered a two-out base hit to put runners on the corners. Atkins followed with the first of his three singles, plating Matt Holliday for a 1-0 edge.

Iannetta led off the second with his 18th home run of the season, depositing a 1-1 offering over the center field wall to double the advantage. He has homered in three of his last four games.

The Diamondbacks threatened in the fourth as Dunn hit a two-out infield single and advanced on a wild pitch before De La Rosa walked Justin Upton and Reynolds to load the bases. But the Mexican induced a lineout by Chris Snyder to escape unscathed.

"My heart was going fast," De La Rosa said of Snyder's line drive to third base. "(Ian) Stewart made a very good play to save that one."

Barmes made it a 3-0 game in the bottom half, belting a solo homer to left-center field with two outs.

"I try to keep my approach and setup as simple as possible," Barmes said. "It's hard enough to get in the box and try to hit 90-plus (miles per hour pitches). But I feel like I swung the bat pretty well tonight, saw the ball pretty good and got a pretty good pitch to hit. (Scherzer) struck me out with a slider on the first at-bat, and I got a good swing on a slider for that homer."

Arizona, which has lost a franchise-record 11 straight road contests, battled back as Dunn hit his 38th homer in the sixth and Reynolds swatted his 28th with one out in the ninth off Brian Fuentes. The lefthander went on to load the bases on a single, a hit batsman and a walk but struck out Chris Young to end the game and notch his 29th save.

"I was just trying to throw strikes," Fuentes said. "I was scuffling for command, and I think they knew it. I was even close to getting offers at pitches and then I was really just trying to throw strikes and not leave it over the middle of the plate. That ball to Reynolds, I didn't want to walk him, and he's got a lot of power. He showed it tonight.

"If I could hit any part of the plate, I would. But tonight, my problems were finding the whole plate."

Bidding for his first career win, Scherzer (0-3) yielded three runs and seven hits in six innings. The 24-year-old walked one and struck out eight in his sixth major league start.

"I made a couple of mistakes tonight and they made me pay for it," Scherzer said. "My front shoulder was flying out and I was trying to figure out why."

"He pitched well," Arizona manager Bob Melvin said. "Max has pitched like that pretty much every time out. We just didn't put enough pressure on. We had some opportunities early, we just couldn't get that one at-bat at the right time."