This was a package deal.
The Rockies didn’t just need Jorge De La Rosa to win the biggest game of their season Wednesday. With their bullpen taxed, they needed him to pitch at least seven innings against the division-leading San Diego Padres.
So what does he do? He pitches 7 1/3 innings and wins his eighth game, giving the Rockies a victory in each of his last five starts.
After a four-game stretch in which their starters had worked 17 innings, the Rockies had no margin for error. The residual impact on their bullpen was becoming more toxic by the day.
It was on De La Rosa to turn things around, and he responded.
“It goes without saying that we needed that game,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “The four previous days, with what the starters gave us, we had some guys (in the bullpen) who, regardless of the situation, were going to have to sit on their gloves.
“He stepped up and gave us exactly what we needed, and that’s not the first time he’s done that.”
This wasn’t the overpowering, virtually unhittable De La Rosa who shut out the San Francisco Giants through eight innings in mid-September of last season in another game the Rockies were desperate to win. But it was a reasonable enough facsimile.
De La Rosa allowed six hits and struck out seven. He allowed three runs through seven, but left in the eighth after serving up a double to David Eckstein and walking Miguel Tejada. De La Rosa was charged with two more runs when lefty Joe Beimel’s first-pitch fastball to Adrian Gonzalez landed in the left-field seats for a three-run homer.
“When you get the run support, it’s easy,” De La Rosa said. “I knew I had to go more than five or six innings. The bullpen was working too much the last few days. I’m happy I did good by getting late into the game.”
Matt Belisle, who leads the National League in relief innings, never got off his seat in the pen. Neither did Matt Reynolds or Esmil Rogers, each of whom has seen his share of regular duty.
“I don’t try to put a lot of pressure on myself,” De La Rosa said. “I just go out, hope we score some runs, and do my job. I knew everybody out there had been working too much, but I don’t feel any pressure.”
De La Rosa’s performance set up the Rockies’ bullpen to be reasonably fresh for their make-or-break, six-game road trip to Los Angeles and Arizona. Beimel, Rafael Betancourt and Huston Street worked Wednesday but should be good to go after today’s scheduled off day.
Said Tracy, “This puts us right back into a very, very good position.”
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
