Rally falls short in Rockies 10-9 loss to Phillies
DENVER (AP) — Forced to leave Sunday's game early because of pain in his left knee, Rockies star outfielder Carlos Gonzalez said he plans to be back in the lineup for Colorado's next game Monday against San Francisco.
Gonzalez scored twice and doubled before being forced to the dugout at the end of the sixth inning in Sunday's 10-9 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. After hitting a high infield chopper, he said he took a bad step running down the line to first, causing a flare up in the left knee tendinitis that he said has been bothering him off and on for more than year.
"At the moment, it feels bad, but after a while it gets better," Gonzalez said. "I'm planning to play (Monday). It's something I have deal with. I just have to be smart about it, and I want to keep playing, so that's what I'm planning to do."
Officially, Gonzalez is listed as day to day by the Rockies, and Manager Walt Weiss will ultimately make the call on his return to the lineup.
In the game, the Rockies missed sweeping the Phillies for the first time in 12 years when Jimmy Rollins homered early and then hit a go-ahead single in the eighth inning that sent Philadelphia past Colorado.
Rollins finished with three hits. Ryan Howard added four hits, including a homer and triple while driving in three runs.
Justin Morneau homered and drove in five runs for the Rockies. The teams combined for 30 hits, 15 for extra bases.
"We came out hot," said Brandon Barnes, who had his first three-hit game for the Rockies. "We were playing the game hard. There were just some things that went wrong and they got some timely hits. Being able to come back the way we did was good."
Jake Diekman (2-1) got the win despite allowing two runs in 1 1-3 innings. Jonathan Papelbon earned his fifth save in six chances.
Matt Belisle (0-2) gave up Rollins' single that broke an 8-all tie.
Philadelphia had gone four games without an extra-base hit before breaking loose. They had scored a total of only two runs in dropping the first two games to Colorado.
After Rollins put the Phillies ahead in the eighth, Chase Utley added an RBI grounder. Charlie Blackmon homered in the bottom half for Colorado.
Philadelphia missed adding an insurance run in the ninth when Rockies manager Walt Weiss challenged the ruling that Freddy Galvis had beaten out a grounder. The replay showed that second baseman Josh Rutledge's throw to first arrived an instant before Galvis stepped on the bag.
The Phillies used a three-run seventh inning to go in front 8-6 on sacrifice flies by Utley and Domonic Brown and an RBI single by Howard.
Colorado evened the score in its half of the seventh when Troy Tulowitzki doubled ahead of Morneau's homer, his second in as many games.
The Rockies went up 4-3 with a three-run third that included Tulowitzki's run-scoring double, Morneau's RBI groundout and a tiebreaking RBI single by Nolan Arenado, who extended his hitting streak to a career high 11 games.
Howard hit his fourth homer, a two-run shot off Juan Nicasio in the third.
"It was a tough loss," Gonalez said. "We battled the whole time. Nicasio didnt have his best stuff today, but he gave us a chance to keep playing and competing. The bullpen gave up (five) runs. That's going to happen. It was a bad day for them. They just have to show up tomorrow and do what they've been doing before. No big deal."
NOTES: Rockies OF-INF Michael Cuddyer missed a third consecutive game with a sore left hamstring. Weiss said before the game that while Cuddyer has shown some improvement, his return is still up in the air and the team expects to know in the next day or two whether he'll need additional recovery time that would require a stay on the disabled list. ... Colorado opens a three-game series against NL West rival San Francisco. Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa (0-3) will be seeking his first win of the season against San Francisco RHP Ryan Vogelsong (0-0).