ST. LOUIS — If this keeps up, they’ll call it Rockbottomtober.
The Rockies went on a 13-2 run to become serious contenders in September, but have lost 11 out of 12 since then. Five times in those 12 games, they have scored one run or less.
The latest exercise in going through the motions took place Friday night at Busch Stadium, where the Rockies were shut out 3-0 by the Cardinals in what may have been Jorge De La Rosa’s final game in a Rockies uniform.
How bad was it? Jake Westbrook, a former No. 1 draft pick of the Rockies, tied his career high with nine strikeouts . . . after just 5 1/3 innings. Westbrook allowed four hits, two by Dexter Fowler, before departing with two outs in the eighth.
Adding injury to insult, Rockies catcher Miguel Olivo was carted off the field on a stretcher after being struck in the head and neck as Albert Pujols followed through on his swing in the first inning.
Olivo sat on the ground for several minutes as medical personnel for the Rockies and Cardinals tended to him. His neck was stabilized on the stretcher before he was lifted onto a cart and wheeled away.
It hasn’t been an easy time for Olivo. He sustained whiplash-like symptoms last Sunday after being inadvertently kicked in the head by Troy Tulowitzki on a bizarre play in which Olivo tripped while he and Tulowitzki converged on a popup lost in the sun by Jonathan Herrera and Jason Giambi.
De La Rosa was his usual steady self, allowing three runs in seven innings. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in 13 of his last 14 starts.
It wasn’t like the Cardinals had an overpowering attack. Their three runs scored on a fielder’s choice, a single by Westbrook and a suicide squeeze.
Fowler gave the Rockies some life in the eighth with a one-out double that put runners at second and third. Westbrook left after walking Herrera on four pitches, bringing left-hander Trever Miller out of the bullpen to face Carlos Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, with a 1-0 count, took a home run cut at a thigh-high fastball, but fouled the pitch back. He eventually grounded out to Miller to end the threat as the Rockies were shut out for the ninth time, seven of those losses coming on the road.
Jim Armstrong: 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com
