DENVER (AP) — One of the knuckles on the middle finger of Jorge De La Rosa’s pitching hand was swollen. His sore back was acting up.
From the mound, though, there was no hint of pain.
De La Rosa carried a no-hitter through six innings and pitched seven scoreless innings, as the Colorado Rockies withstood a late rally to beat the San Diego Padres 3-1 on Friday 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 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.