Milwaukee, WI – If the Colorado Rockies are going to contend this season, Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez need to lead the way.
They've done so thus far, at least through two games.
Tulowitzki and Gonzalez both homered for the second straight day and Walt Weiss earned his first win as manager in the Colorado Rockies' 8-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in the middle test of a three-game set.
Tulowitzki and Gonzalez had two RBI apiece for Colorado, which racked up 14 hits. Gonzalez also scored twice.
One time 16-game winner Jorge De La Rosa, who made just three starts late last season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery in 2011, surrendered four runs on five hits and three walks over 4 1/3 innings.
"I felt good, I was surprised they took me out because I only had 70-some pitches," De La Rosa said. "It's special to come back here because this is where I started."
Edgmer Escalona (1-0) tossed 1 2/3 frames of shutout ball to pick up the win, while Rafael Betancourt got the final out in the ninth for his first save of the year.
Ryan Braun cracked a two-run homer for the Brewers, who won the opener of this set 5-4 in 10 innings after John Axford blew a two-run lead in the ninth. Milwaukee recorded an MLB-high 29 blown saves a year ago.
After the Rockies pushed across two runs in the top half of the fifth to knot the score at 4-4, they added three more in the seventh to take the lead.
Michael Gonzalez (0-1) began the seventh for the Brewers and gave up a walk to Dexter Fowler, followed by singles by Josh Rutledge and Carlos Gonzalez to load the bases with none away.
Burke Badenhop came in from the bullpen and Tulowitzki lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Fowler for the go-ahead run. Base hits by Michael Cuddyer and Todd Helton brought home Rutledge and Gonzalez, respectively, to make it 7-4.
"What was really disappointing to me was walking the first batter," Gonzalez said. "That just kind of opened up the inning."
Colorado added an insurance run in the eighth on Rutledge's sacrifice fly to right field.
Earlier, Chris Nelson singled home Cuddyer in the second for the game's first run before the Brewers answered with two runs in the home half. Carlos Gomez ripped an RBI double down the left-field line before Marco Estrada helped his cause by lining a run-scoring single to right for a 2-1 Colorado advantage.
Tulowitzki's solo shot to left-center in the third tied the contest, but Braun's two-run opposite-field homer in the bottom half put Milwaukee back on top, 4-2.
Gonzalez launched a two-run shot to right-center in the fifth.
Game Notes
The Brewers' starter Estrada fanned eight, but surrendered four runs on nine hits over five innings ... Cuddyer had three hits ... Colorado was 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
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