Rockies climb out of NL West cellar with 6-3 win over Tribe

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies are finally out of the NL West basement.

The defending National League champions are not quite, however, out of the deep hole they dug for themselves.

Jorge De La Rosa struck out a career-high 10 and Willy Taveras had three hits and scored twice, leading the Colorado Rockies to a 6-3 victory Thursday night over the Cleveland Indians and a sweep of the three-game series.

De La Rosa (2-3) overcame a shaky start to surrender just three runs in six innings and walked one. Indians starter Jeremy Sowers (0-2) struck out four and didn’t walk a batter in six innings of work.

The Rockies’ 11th victory in the last 15 games moved them out of last place in the NL West for the first time since May 28. Colorado is tied for third with San Francisco, eight games behind first-place Arizona and a half game ahead of last-place San Diego in the West.

“Momentum is building, confidence is building,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “It’s not that we didn’t believe in ourselves, but we’ve been playing better. Everybody’s contributing.”

The Rockies are getting better results from their rotation. Since falling to 18 games below .500 on June 2, Colorado’s starters are 8-3.

“Whenever you can pitch a close game, you have a chance to win,” Taveras said.

De La Rosa kept the game close after he gave up a two-run homer to Ben Francisco in the first inning, allowing two hits over his final five innings.