Colorado Rockies keep wild-card hopes alive with 5-2 win over Atlanta Braves
With their post-season hopes hanging on by a thread, the Colorado Rockies can’t afford to let a close game slip away.
Rockies starting pitcher Jorge De La Rosa kept the team close in a game that featured two solid pitching performances. Atlanta Braves starter Derek Lowe gave up seven hits over six innings including two home runs and three earned runs while striking out four. De La Rosa outlasted Lowe working through seven innings and giving up six hits and two earned runs while striking out seven.
Carlos Gonzalez kept his dark horse candidacy for National League MVP honors alive by hitting home run No. 26 to give the Rockies an early 2-0 lead. Gonzalez has been on an absolute tear over the last month hitting nine home runs and 20 RBIs while batting .378 and slugging .786.
Atlanta closed the lead to 3-2 thanks to an RBI single by Alex Gonzalez in the seventh inning, but a two-RBI single by Dexter Fowler in the eighth would stretch the lead to 5-2. Huston Street pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the win for starting pitcher De La Rosa and the Braves.
The win improved De La Rosa to 5-4 on the season, and was his second win since coming off the disabled list in early July after being on it for close to three months due to a torn tendon in his left hand.
Manager Jim Tracy is encouraged by the way his team is currently playing, especially at home.
“We’ve started to generate a little bit of momentum for ourselves,” manager Jim Tracy said. “When you’re 40-20 at home, there’s a lot of good things going on here. Maybe we can take about 35,000 of these people on our next road trip.”
Colorado improved their record to 65-60 on the season with the win. While the San Diego Padres still hold a commanding lead over them in the NL West, the Rockies inched a game closer to the wild card with the Philadelphia Phillies losing to the Houston Astros 4-2 in a 16-inning marathon game Tuesday night.
Their division rival, the San Francisco Giants moved into a tie for the wild card lead by beating the Cincinnati Reds 16-5.
Esmil Rogers is scheduled to make the fourth start of his career for the Rockies on Wednesday in the third game of a three game series with the Braves; Jair Jurrjens is scheduled to take the mound for Atlanta.
Colorado leads the season series with the Braves 3-2.
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