Major League Baseball

Rockies erupt in seventh, get win for De La Rosa

Published Jun. 6, 2009 6:05 a.m. ET

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Jorge De La Rosa's first victory after an 0-6 start was no breeze. He was nursing a one-run lead before the Colorado Rockies scored nine runs in the seventh inning, a franchise record for a road game.

Manager Jim Tracy was impressed with the left-hander's composure after giving up a home run to Albert Pujols that cut the deficit to 2-1 in the sixth. De La Rosa finished the inning with two easy outs before the Rockies erupted in an 11-4 victory Friday night.

"It's the first time all year I really believe he turned the page, went right to the next hitter and put the inning down right there," Tracy said. "I was very encouraged by the way he threw his shoulders back and let it go."

De La Rosa also got his first RBI on a bases-loaded walk off Dennys Reyes in the breakaway seventh, which eclipsed the previous franchise mark of eight. It also was the first walk of his career in 74 at-bats with the take sign still on at 3-1.

"The coach told me to wait for one (strike), then he said one more," De La Rosa said.

Dexter Fowler homered for a 2-0 lead in the sixth and drew a bases-loaded walk one at-bat after the .056-hitting De La Rosa's free pass in the Rockies' biggest inning of the year. Todd Helton added a three-run double, and Ian Stewart had a three-run homer for Colorado, which scored 10 runs Thursday to beat Houston.

"The one inning makes it really a bad game," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "But even when the game was closer they were hitting and pitching better than we were."

Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Ryan Ludwick homered for the Cardinals, who wasted a strong outing by Adam Wainwright (5-4). Molina hit his first homer since May 5 in the seventh, four innings after Helton him on the side of the head on a backswing.

Pujols was 1 for 4 to end a streak of 15 straight games in which he reached base at least twice, tying Keith Hernandez (1980) for the Cardinals' longest run in 50 years. Pete Rose's 20-game streak in 1979 is the longest in the majors over that span.

Tracy put De La Rosa (1-6) on notice before the game, noting that it was a "performance business." De La Rosa's losing streak had been tied with the Tigers' Armando Galarraga for the longest in the major leagues and he'd lost his previous three starts while allowing 18 runs in 12 innings.

Before Friday, the Rockies averaged only 2.3 runs in his outings - third-lowest in the NL. The Cardinals were 0 for 7 with five strikeouts with runners in scoring position the first six innings while falling behind, and De La Rosa ended up allowing three runs in 6 2-3 innings for his first victory in 11 starts since Sept. 25 at San Francisco.

"It's nice to get the first one," De La Rosa said. "It took a long time. I hope I keep pitching like I pitched today."

The first seven Rockies reached safely in the seventh while also victimizing Jason Motte and rookie Jess Todd, called up earlier in the day after Kyle Lohse went on the 15-day disabled list with a forearm injury. Todd allowed Stewart's three-run homer in his major league debut and gave up two runs in 1 2-3 innings.

Wainwright retired 10 in a row, half of them on strikeouts, before Fowler's homer in the sixth for a 2-0 lead. Fowler leads NL rookies with 43 hits and the homer was his first since April 12.

"I felt good the whole time," Wainwright said. "They took some tough at-bats."

Notes: Ludwick had been 2 for 26 with no RBIs since coming off the DL from a hamstring injury before homering in the eighth. ... Wainwright is 2-1 with a 1.17 ERA in seven career games against the Rockies, three of them starts. ... Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki (left hand contusion) missed his fourth straight start. ... The Rockies' Carlos Gonzalez, a lineup scratch when he arrived late after his recall from Triple-A Colorado Springs, took over in center field in the seventh and grounded out to start the eighth. ... All but two of the Cardinals' last 15 homers have come with the bases empty.

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