Denver, CO – Jorge De La Rosa pitched a two-hit shutout over six innings and Rafael Betancourt escaped a bases loaded jam in the ninth to preserve a Colorado 4-3 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field.
After entering the game with a two-run lead, Betancourt gave up a double to A.J. Pollock, a single to Paul Goldschmidt and a walk to Gerardo Parra.
With the bags full, pinch-hitter Miguel Montero was only able to push one run across on a groundout, and Betancourt locked down his seventh save by getting Wil Nieves to fly out to end the game.
Colorado, which pushed its winning streak to eight games, received a solo homer from Michael Cuddyer and an RBI apiece from Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki.
"We're not going to hit the longball sometimes, so sometimes we have to play small ball. We just have to play smart," Gonzalez said.
De La Rosa (2-1) struck out four and stifled Arizona's offense, which didn't push a runner past first base until the ninth inning. The Rockies will go for a three-game sweep of the D'Backs on Sunday.
Eric Chavez hit a pinch-hit two-run homer in the setback, Arizona's fourth in five games. Trevor Cahill (0-3) was tagged for all four runs -- three earned -- on six hits and three walks over seven innings of work.
Colorado got a gift in the second inning when Josh Rutledge was able to score on Reid Brignac's single into right.
Rutledge had reached with a walk and got a jump on Brignac's sharp base hit, but got caught in a run down when he made a hard turn at third base. However, catcher Neives threw wide of the man covering at third and into left field foul territory, allowing Rutledge to score easily.
"We didn't play a very good game. We made a couple errors and gave them an unearned run. We had a shaky start," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said.
The Rockies pushed their edge to 3-0 in the third. Eric Young led off with a triple and after Dexter Fowler was hit by a pitch, he stole second to put two runners in scoring position for Gonzalez.
Gonzalez's groundout to second sent Young home and Fowler to third, and Tulowitzki followed with a sac fly into left for a three-run cushion.
The lead became 4-0 in the sixth when Michael Cuddyer led the inning off with a solo blast off Cahill into the left field seats.
Arizona cut its deficit in half in the eighth off Colorado reliever Edgmer Escalona. Escalona served up a one-out single to Nieves before Chavez's pinch- hit two-run homer into the right field seats made it 4-2.
Game Notes
The Rockies won eight in a row for the first time since a 10-game streak from Sept. 3-12, 2010 ... Colorado improved to 8-0 at home, where they have outscored its opponents, 55-25 ... Arizona outfielder Cody Ross and manager Kirk Gibson were thrown out in the seventh inning. Ross threw his bat after striking out looking, prompting his ejection ... The Rockies were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
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