De La Rosa helps Rockies sweep Cubs 8-7

[August 02, 2010]  DENVER (AP) -- Jorge De La Rosa pitched into the seventh inning to earn his first win in three months and the Colorado Rockies beat the Chicago Cubs 8-7 on Sunday for their fourth consecutive victory.

Chicago scored three times in the ninth against Huston Street but Jeff Baker struck out to end the game. Rockies center fielder Dexter Fowler was carted off the field after crashing into the wall while catching Alfonso Soriano's sacrifice fly.

De La Rosa (4-3) allowed three runs and eight hits in 6 2-3 innings to pick up his first win since April 25 against Florida. He also went 2 for 2 at the plate.

Colorado scored four times in the third to take a 6-1 lead. Jonathan Herrera hit an RBI single, De La Rosa and Fowler scored on first baseman Derrek Lee's throwing error and Troy Tulowitzki drove in a run with a groundout.

De La Rosa also singled in the fourth and his sacrifice in the fifth helped key a two-run rally against Carlos Zambrano, who made his second relief appearance since being activated from the restricted list Friday. Ian Stewart and Fowler had RBI singles in the inning.

The Cubs used five relievers after starter Carlos Silva (10-5) left in the first inning with an unspecified illness.

Blake DeWitt had three hits for Chicago in his first game since he came over from the Dodgers in Saturday's trade that sent Ted Lilly and Ryan Theriot to Los Angeles.

The Cubs tried to rally. Lee's RBI single chased De La Rosa and Geovany Soto hit a run-scoring single off Manuel Corpas before Marlon Byrd flew out with runners on the corners to end the inning.

Soriano hit a leadoff drive in the eighth for his 19th homer, cutting it to 8-4, and Byrd added a two-run triple in the ninth.

De La Rosa struck out five and walked two while improving to 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA in his last three starts, a step forward after spending a couple months on the disabled list with a torn left middle finger tendon.

Silva faced only four batters before departing. A Cubs trainer went to the mound after he issued a one-out walk to Herrera, the second batter in the Rockies' lineup.

Silva then allowed a single to Carlos Gonzalez and a ground-rule RBI double to Tulowitzki. Acting manager Alan Trammell and the trainer went back out to the mound and Silva was replaced by left-hander James Russell.

NOTES: Rockies RHP Aaron Cook was taken to a hospital for precautionary X-rays Saturday after fouling a ball off his left foot during batting practice. Manager Jim Tracy said everything was fine and Cook should make his scheduled start Tuesday against the Giants. ... Cubs manager Lou Piniella missed his second straight game to attend funeral services in Florida for his uncle. Trammell is managing the team in Piniella's absence.

[Associated Press]

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