DENVER (AP) - Eric Stults was happy with his outing. He just wasn’t pleased with the result.
Stults pitched 6 2-3 strong innings but he was no match for Colorado’s Jorge De La Rosa.
De La Rosa carried a no-hitter through six innings and pitched seven scoreless innings, as the Rockies withstood a late rally to beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 on Friday night.
It was Stults’ longest outing of the season but he had nothing to show for it because of Colorado’s left-hander.
“It’s part of the game. You’ve got to tip your hat to De La Rosa,” Stults said. “He was better. Obviously when you go into the seventh inning and only give up a couple of runs you’d like to have the result go your way. He did a great job. Tonight was his night.”
De La Rosa’s bid for the first no-hitter by a Rockies pitcher at Coors Field ended in the seventh inning, when Chris Denorfia led off with a triple off the scoreboard in right field, just the second time a Padres batter had gotten the ball out of the infield to that point.
But De La Rosa (5-3) stranded Denorfia by retiring the next three batters, getting Everth Cabrera on an infield grounder, Chase Headley on a liner to second and Carlos Quentin on a pop-up to blank the Padres on one hit through seven innings.
“He was good. He had command of three pitches,” second baseman Jedd Gyorko said. “Anytime a pitcher can command three pitches it’s going to be tough to get consistent hits off of him, and that was the case today. He threw the ball well.”
De La Rosa, who was pitching on eight days’ rest because of a bout of back spasms, struck out five and walked one in winning his fifth straight since an 0-3 start.
Stults (2-4) was matching De La Rosa until Drew Stubbs doubled down the third base line with one out in the fourth inning for the game’s first hit.
Stults allowed two runs - one earned - and six hits in 6 2-3 innings in losing to the Rockies for the first time in four decisions covering 13 lifetime appearances.
“Stults pitched a great game. Both starters were great,” San Diego manager Bud Black said. “It was a pitchers’ duel all the way, which is a rarity here. You don’t see games like that often but that’s a tribute to both guys.”
The Rockies went on top in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of a fielding error by Gyorko to score an unearned run. D.J LeMahieu’s two-out double advanced Jordan Pacheco, aboard on a fielder’s choice, to third. De La Rosa bounced a grounder to second that Gyorko bobbled, allowing De La Rosa to beat the throw to first and Pacheco to cross the plate with the first run.
“It hit off the heel of the glove and bounced away from me,” Gyorko said. “It’s a play I’ve got to make, simple as that.”
Colorado made it 2-0 in the seventh with De La Rosa helping out by sacrificing LeMahieu, who had singled, to second. Charlie Blackmon followed with a two-out RBI single, and Stults was relieved by Nick Vincent.
“I was frustrated with the last (pitch) I threw to Blackmon,” Stults said. “I figured he was going to be aggressive there and swing early in the count and I just threw a pitch right down the middle.”
Colorado added a run-scoring single by Pacheco in the eighth.
Adam Ottavino and Boone Logan kept the Padres in check through the eighth and LaTroy Hawkins got his 10th save in as many chances despite giving up three hits in the ninth, including an RBI single by Headley.
The only no-hitter at Coors Field was on Sept. 17, 1996, by Hideo Nomo in a 9-0 Los Angeles Dodgers’ win over the Rockies.
Ubaldo Jimenez has the only no-hitter by a Rockies pitcher, at Atlanta in a 4-0 win on April 17, 2010.
NOTES: Stults has allowed three or fewer runs in six of his last seven starts. However, he fell to 0-4 with a 5.18 ERA as a visiting pitcher this season. … De La Rosa has won eight of his last nine decisions against the Padres. … Home plate umpire Seth Buckminster tossed the Rockies’ Nolan Arenado in the eighth for arguing balls and strikes.
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