Jorge De La Rosa struggles in Rockies' 4-3 loss to Reds

The Rockies were unable to comeback after an early three-run deficit and dropped the second game of the series 4-3.

Ben Paulsen collected his fourth RBI of the series after driving in Mark Reynolds on an RBI single to right field to give the Rockies an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning.

After striking out the side in the bottom of the first, De La Rosa found himself in hot water in the bottom of the second. Brandon Phillips and Devin Mesoraco led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and it only went downhill from there. De La Rosa allowed five (FIVE!) stolen bases and the Reds managed to push four runners across home plate to give the Reds a 4-1 lead after two innings.

De La Rosa continued to look lost on the mound as he allowed a lead-off double to Phillips and walked Mesoraco on four pitches. Walt Weiss decided he had seen enough as he pulled De La Rosa after just two innings of work.He allowed four earned runs on six hits and one walk. He struck out five.

Chris Rusin came in to clean up the inning for De La Rosa, and got the Rockies out of the inning unscathed. He pitched four strong innings, allowing just two hits and no runs. Justin Miller, David Hale, and Jason Gurka combined for two clean innings to follow Rusin.

Robert Stephenson, making just his second major league start, looked like an ace on the mound for Cincinnati. He allowed just three hits and two walks over seven innings of work.

The Rockies made things interesting in the top of the ninth, as Mark Reynolds drilled a two-run shot to center field to bring the Rockies within one. Unfortunately, J.J. Hoover was able to get Ben Paulsen to fly out to right field to secure the victory.

The final game of the series is tomorrow at 10:35 AM MT.

Source: FanGraphs