LOS ANGELES — Jorge De La Rosa was cruising Saturday night. In his first three innings, he struck out four Dodgers and didn’t allow a baserunner.
Then, quite suddenly in the fourth inning, De La Rosa was bent over on the mound, in obvious discomfort. Now the talented but erratic left-hander, who leads the Rockies with 16 victories, is a major question mark for the first round of the playoffs that begin Wednesday with the Rockies facing the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
De La Rosa suffered a strained left groin.
If De La Rosa can’t pitch in the postseason, it would be an unfortunate ending to his remarkable turnaround season. He was 0-6 in his first 10 starts, but since June 1 he went 16-3, the most wins in the majors in that span. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, De La Rosa is only the third pitcher in major-league history, and the first since at least 1900, to win at least 16 games in a season in which he was 0-6 or worse through May 31.
“Before he got hurt, Jorge looked an awful lot liked he did against San Francisco,” manager Jim Tracy said, referring to De La Rosa’s eight-inning, three-hit gem against the Giants on Sept. 16. “But he said there was this tightness in his left groin. He wanted to try a couple of pitches, but we didn’t want to take any chances with that.”
If De La Rosa had outdueled Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw and notched a victory Saturday night, he would have matched the franchise record with 17 victories, last achieved by Jeff Francis in 2007.
The injury appeared to come out of nowhere. Facing leadoff hitter Rafael Furcal in the bottom of the fourth, De La Rosa stopped pitching after throwing two balls. Tracy and trainer Keith Dugger came out of the dugout to talk to De La Rosa. Shortly thereafter, he left the game and was replaced by Jose Contreras, who pitched three innings, allowing no runs on four hits.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1428 or psaunders@denverpost.com
