Jorge De La Rosa's first start since returning from the disabled list didn't look much different than any of his outings prior to his injury.
The longtime Colorado Rockies starter was charged with seven earned runs on nine hits in 3⅓ innings in an 8-3 loss to the Boston Red Sox. From the atrocious outing by De La Rosa -- who now owns an 11.41 ERA -- to a less than desirable performance on offense, the Rockies looked like a team that belongs a tier or two beneath the 28-17 Red Sox.
De La Rosa was hurt by a poor first-pitch ball call in the bottom of the first with Xander Bogaerts at the plate, and things pretty much went downhill from there.
Bogaerts doubled and David Ortiz knocked in a pair of runs with a single on a poorly executed pitch by De La Rosa in the first. Boston plated two more in the second after the Rockies answered with a run on Gerardo Parra's RBI triple.
Charlie Blackmon hit a solo homer to cut the deficit in half, but the Red Sox scored three more runs in the fourth after De La Rosa issued back-to-back walks prior to serving up a two-run double to David Ortiz. Eddie Butler entered the game in relief of De La Rosa and allowed an inherited run to score before settling in with 2⅔ innings of one-hit ball.
Butler is scheduled to start for the Rockies on Friday. He may still be able to do that, considering he threw only 33 pitches in effective and efficient mop-up duty.
Rockies hitters struck out 11 times and drew just one walk against Boston pitching. Trevor Story went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and Nolan Arenado, who also went hitless, struck out three times. He hadn't done that since Aug. 4 of last year, and he's now struck out more than once in a game this season only twice.
DJ LeMahieu led the Rockies' offense with two hits, and Mark Reynolds netted career hit No. 1,000 with a fourth-inning single. Justin Miller pitched a scoreless inning in relief.
The Rockies will try to bounce back on Wednesday with their stopper, Chad Bettis, taking the hill opposite Red Sox knuckleballer Steven Wright.