Colorado Rockies stuck in a downward spiral

Sometimes you get kicked when you are already down.

The Colorado Rockies have to feel that way after a difficult 4-2 loss on Saturday night in San Diego.

After three straight blowout losses, the Rockies had the best case scenario going for them. Their ace, Jorge De La Rosa was taking the mound. If there was anyone who could curtail the teams spiral, De La Rosa was the guy.

That looked to be the case, as De La Rosa had very few bumps through the 4th inning. Then, in the 5th, the struggles began. One thing Rockies fans have become accustom to is De La Rosa wiggling out of a tricky situation. He often will allow base runners, but there is no need to worry because the lefty can figure a way out of the jam.

It looked like De La Rosa would do just that in the 5th. He walked Wil Myers, then gave up a double to Derek Norris. With runners on second and third base and no one out, it was time for De La Rosa to work his magic. The Rockies were clinging to a 2-1 lead and with what happened on Friday night, the Rockies needed a lock down inning.

De La Rosa nearly did the job. He struck out Matt Kemp on three nasty four-seemed fastballs fired at his back foot. He then had to repeat the process with Justin Upton. One inch is what separated the Rockies ace from success. Upton hit a grounder back up the middle that De La Rosa reached for and barely missed, watching the ball bound into center field, scoring two runs and essentially finishing off the Rockies.

The loss wasn’t De La Rosa’s fault. He struck out nine Padres batters in five innings and nearly got out of the jam that he got into in the 5th inning. He is still building arm strength and getting back into form after missing all of spring training with a groin injury. Where De La Rosa got into trouble was with his walks. The lefty walked three, but one was intentional. The two unintentional walks both came to lead off an inning, the 1st and the 5th. In both of those situations, the walk turned into a run for the Padres.

For fans that are worried about De La Rosa, there truly is nothing to be concerned about. He is going to take time to get back to his complete form, and he literally missed keeping the Padres at bay by one inch. Things will be fine for De La Rosa, he is the Rockies ace for a reason.

The Rockies need starting pitching that can give them some depth, but that issue has overshadowed another area of the team that has started to struggle.

Colorado’s offense has scored just 10 runs in the past five games. The lineup with more talent than any other team in the National League hasn’t scored more than six runs since Opening Day in Milwaukee. Scoring a bunch of runs is what this Rockies offense has to do in order for the team to have a shot at being respectable. It isn’t news to anyone that the Rockies pitching staff is a work in progress, which means that the offense is going to have to carry the weight of many games in order for the team to succeed.

One major issue for the Rockies offense is the fact that Carlos Gonzalez, despite a short reprieve, has been absolutely terrible through the first month of the season. After getting a base hit on a swinging bunt on Saturday night, Gonzalez batting average sits at .197. Despite the emergence of Corey Dickerson and Nolan Arenado, Gonzalez is still a huge linchpin to this team’s success. If CarGo can’t turn things around in a hurry, the Rockies might be too buried for it to matter.

The Rockies attempt to avoid the sweep on Sunday. They send Kyle Kendrick to the mound, who is flipping spots with Tyler Matzek in order to avoid two straight games with a lefty starter.