It was a case of too little, too late for the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field. Entering the series, Colorado hoped to make up some ground in the tight NL West Division chase, but instead ran into a fantastic pitching performance by Arizona lefty Joe Saunders.
Saunders pitched eight effective innings, allowing six hits and striking out seven Rockies. He only allowed one run to score, in the top of the eighth inning on a Ryan Spilborghs RBI single.
Jorge De La Rosa pitched seven effective innings, but made a couple of mistakes in the bottom of the third inning. Kelly Johnson followed up a Ryan Roberts RBI double with a two-run blast to left field on the first pitch of the at-bat, giving Arizona the runs that proved to be the difference in the game.
San Diego and San Francisco both won their games, putting the Rockies 2.5 games back of the division with 12 games to play. Tomorrow’s game pits Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez, looking for his franchise record 20th win, against former Rockie Rodrigo Lopez.