Phillies do little damage, lose to Rockies 4-1

[June 22, 2012]  PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Jimmy Rollins gave the Phillies a great start. After that, not much for Philadelphia.

Rollins hit a leadoff home run Thursday night and that was all the Phillies managed in a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

The Phillies had lost 12 of 15 before Colorado came to town. They scored 14 runs in winning the first two games, and had a chance for their first three-game sweep of the season.

"Fortunately we won the series, but this game would've been real good for us to win," Philadelphia manager Charlie Manuel said. "But we have to come back out tomorrow with the outlook we're going to win tomorrow's game and play better."

Jeff Francis tossed five solid innings and four Rockies relievers combined to shut out the Phillies the rest of the way

"We've been hitting the ball better, but (Francis) took the sting out of our bats," Manuel said. "We didn't get the big hit on him but he held us. He pitched a heck of a game."

Shane Victorino went 1 for 4 against Francis and his relievers.

"He's not overpowering like he used to be, but he was effective with curveballs and changeups," Victorino said. "He hit his spots."

Chris Nelson hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning and Wilin Rosario added a two-run shot in the ninth to help the Rockies snap a four-game losing streak.

Josh Roenicke (2-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings in relief of Francis to earn the victory, as the four Rockies relievers combined to allow just two hits.

Francis surrendered one run on six hits and was lifted after 76 pitches. The Rockies are using a four-man rotation and limiting their starters to 75 pitches, something manager Jim Tracy implemented prior to Tuesday's game against Philadelphia when he moved Jeremy Guthrie to the bullpen.

It was the third start of the season for Francis, a former Rockies first-round pick who was re-signed by Colorado on June 9 after being released by Cincinnati. The soft-tossing lefty retired 11 of his final 13 batters he faced after giving up hits to four of the first seven batters.

"He was throwing us a lot of slow stuff and we were chasing," Manuel said. "He had good command of his fastball."

Rafael Betancourt worked the ninth for his 11th save in 14 chances.

The Rockies went ahead 2-1 in the seventh on Nelson's two-run homer. Tyler Colvin singled with one out and Nelson connected with two outs against Vance Worley (3-4).

"It was down, I had him out in front but the ball kept carrying," Worley said. "I was pretty disgusted."

Rosario connected with two outs in the ninth off Michael Schwimer. Rosario leads major league rookies with 11 homers.

Worley made his fourth start since coming off the disabled list on June 4 with right elbow inflammation. He has pitched well in the four starts, with a 2.25 ERA, but has two losses and a pair of no-decisions.

"It's part of the game," Worley said. "I didn't have my best stuff but I had to go out and compete."

The right-hander had allowed just three singles through 6 2-3 innings before Nelson's homer.

The Phillies squandered a chance to score in the second. John Mayberry Jr. led off with a double and went to third with one out on third baseman Jordan Pacheco's throwing error on Worley's grounder. But Francis got Rollins to pop out and Juan Pierre to fly out to end the threat.

Pinch hitter Ty Wigginton, who started the Phillies' two-out rally in the ninth Wednesday night with a single in a 7-6 win, led off the eighth with a double off the wall in right-center. But right-hander Matt Belisle struck out Hunter Pence, got Carlos Ruiz to fly out to deep center and induced an infield popup by Victorino.

NOTES: The crowd of 43,805 on a 95-degree night was the Phillies' 238th consecutive regular-season sellout, and 254th in a row counting the postseason. ... Colorado opens a three-game interleague series at Texas on Friday night, with Rockies LHP Christian Friedrich (4-3, 5.60 ERA) facing former Phillies RHP Roy Oswalt, who will be making his season debut for the Rangers. ... Philadelphia opens a three-game series at home against Tampa Bay on Friday night, with Phillies LHP Cliff Lee (0-3, 3.48) still looking for his first victory of the season against Rays RHP James Shields (7-4, 3.72).

[Associated Press]

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