Saturday Pebble Report: Jorge De La Rosa Suffers Another Setback, Josh Rutledge Has an Interesting Night

AAA Colorado Springs – L 6-5, (26-29, 3rd, 4.5 GB)

The odyssey that is Jorge De La Rosa’s road back to the majors from Tommy John surgery appears to have taken yet another detour as he left last night’s game in the 4th inning after just 62 pitches with forearm tightness. It’s unknown how severe this setback is at the moment, but it’s that same issue that gave him problems before. Before leaving the game, De La Rosa struggled again, surrendering 4 ER in just 3.1 IP. In six minor league rehab starts, De La Rosa is averaging less than 3 IP per outing and has an ERA of 7.79. At this point, he’s a long way from being able to help the Rockies win games again.

The Sky Sox offense nearly dug their way out of the hole De La Rosa created as they scored four times and batted around in the 6th, but their comeback would fall one run short. Andrew Brown and #20 PuRP Tommy Field each had multi hit games while #8 PuRP Tim Wheeler went 0-4 with a walk in his first game back from his hamate bone injury.

AA Tulsa – L 4-3, (29-24, 1st)

They say all good things must come to an end, and last night that’s exactly what happened to Coty Woods’s scoreless innings streak as he took the loss while surrendering a run for the first time all year with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. He didn’t pitch poorly though; the culprit was two well placed ground balls by the Rough Riders. The game winning worm burner was very nearly stopped by both #2 PuRP Nolan Arenado at third and #9 PuRP Josh Rutledge at short.

Rutledge had the most interesting night of any Driller. First he recorded a hit with men on first and second in the 3rd inning but didn’t collect on RBI because Lars Davis was thrown out at home. The Tulsa shortstop would later steal his 12th base of the season (on a double steal) before hitting a game tying home run down the left field line in the 5th. On defense, Rutledge did commit his 6th error of the season as he rushed a ball coming in, but he had three nice defensive plays that more than made up for it; a nice backhanded stop in the 2nd, a strong play in the hole in the 7th, and a savvy move on a double play that broke down as follows. Frisco had runners at first and second with one out in a tied game in the 6th when a potential inning ending groundball was hit to second baseman Angelys Nina. Rutledge was the middle man in this turn and after recording the force at second, he realized that there was no way he could get the runner at first. So he instead faked a throw, spun around, and fired a strike to home plate to nail Leury Garcia who was trying to score all the way from second for the rare 4-6-2 double play. Had Rutledge thrown to first, Garcia would have scored.

Driller starter and #13 PuRP Edwar Cabrera had a largely forgettable outing as he gave up 3 ER in six innings of work.

High-A Modesto – W 3-2, (27-28, 3rd,5.0 GB)

Mark Tracy hit a three run home run in the first inning and gave the Nuts all the runs they would need as starter Christian Bergman was brilliant. He went seven innings giving up just one run while striking out eight and not walking a single hitter. This outing now drops Bergman’s ERA on the season to an impressive 2.93.

#7 PuRP Kyle Parker still has not found his power stroke but he did draw two walks in this game and recorded his fourth straight start without a strikeout.

Low-A Asheville – W 6-1, (38-17, 1st)

If Bergman was impressive, then Alex Gillingham was outstanding. The righty threw a complete game, didn’t allow an earned run, and had an 8 to 0 K/BB ratio, but that wasn’t even the most amazing thing. His ground out to fly out ratio was a mesmerizing 18 to 0. With the win, Gillingham has now thrown 16 innings without allowing an earned run in his last two starts.

At the plate, #21 PuRP Will Swanner, Tyler Massey, and Taylor Featherston led the charge as they all went deep. Swanner actually ended the game a triple short of the cycle and now has an OPS of 1.091 on the season.