Brett Myers schooled Jorge De La Rosa on Saturday night at Coors Field.
The Phillies’ veteran right-hander was far from perfect, giving up home runs to the Rockies’ Troy Tulowitzki, Garrett Atkins and Clint Barmes. But he tutored De La Rosa on how to endure and ultimately thrive.
The result was an 8-4 Philadelphia victory that ended the Rockies’ three-game winning streak.
“I have a lot of work to do, and I have to throw more strikes,” said De La Rosa, who needed 99 pitches to get through 4 2/3 innings. “I got behind in some counts, and I paid for it.”
Though Myers got tagged, he never got rattled, improving to 7-0 against the Rockies and 5-0 at Coors Field.
Myers’ composure ultimately was the difference between him and De La Rosa. All of the damage the Phillies inflicted against De La Rosa came with two outs. Indeed, seven of Philadelphia’s eight runs came with two outs.
“Jorge did some good things, but he’s got work to do,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We’ve seen him handle things better at times, but it’s something he’s working through and getting more experienced at.”
The Rockies’ talented but erratic left-hander sailed through his first two innings. He whiffed Ryan Howard with a gorgeous 85 mph changeup to end the first. In the second, he rang up Raul Ibañez with a blistering 95 mph fastball.
But the third inning showed why De La Rosa remains the No. 1 project of Rockies mental skills coach Ronn Svetich. After two quick outs, Jimmy Rollins reached on an infield single and Shane Victorino followed with a sharp single to left. Suddenly, De La Rosa transformed from cool customer into a fidgeting pitcher. He walked Chase Utley on four pitches before giving up a three-run double to Howard. A 2-0 lead for the Rockies became a 3-2 Phillies advantage.
To his credit, De La Rosa righted himself with a perfect fourth. But he gave up consecutive two-out singles to Utley and Howard in the fifth. That was it for De La Rosa. Enter reliever Ryan Speier. He hung a slider to Jayson Werth, who banged it into the right-field corner for a two-run triple and a 5-3 lead for the Phillies.
Recently acquired Jason Hammel pitched a shaky sixth. Hurdle, wanting to get Hammel innings, brought him back out for the seventh. That’s when Ibañez deposited Hammel’s 3-2 changeup into the second deck beyond right field. Hammel gave up another run in the eighth as Philadelphia extended its lead to 7-4.
“Obviously not the outing I wanted,” Hammel said. “That first inning, I was struggling with my fastball command. Maybe I was a little amped up.”
The Rockies had only four hits, but three of them went over the wall.
Tulowitzki put the Rockies ahead 2-0 in the second with a 422-foot, two-run homer to dead center. His third homer came in just his fifth game. Last season, largely because of a torn quadriceps that put him on the disabled list, Tulowitzki didn’t hit his third homer until July 2.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
Looking ahead
TODAY: Phillies at Rockies, 1:10 p.m., FSN
Aaron Cook (0-0, 23.14) didn’t spend much time rehashing his opening- day meltdown in Phoenix. He got the hook after giving up six runs on seven hits in just 2 1/3 innings. The sinkerballer figured that game was an aberration, so why dwell on it? Besides, he had to get ready for the Phillies, who have pounded him pretty good. In six starts against Philly, Cook is 1-4 with a 6.37 ERA. Chase Utley is 6-for-17 (.353) with a homer and 10 RBIs against him. Rockies batters face a familiar pitcher in Phils right-hander Chan Ho Park (0-0, 0.00). The ex-Dodger is 5-2 with a 5.66 ERA in 17 games at Coors Field. Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
Monday:
Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez (1-0, 0.00) vs. Cubs’ Ted Lilly (1-0, 9.00), 12:20 p.m., FSN
Tuesday:
Off
Wednesday:
Rockies’ Jason Marquis (1-0, 2.57) vs. Cubs’ Rich Harden (0-0, 1.50), 12:20 p.m., FSN
Thursday:
Off
