De La Rosa credits Nats' approach after loss

DENVER -- Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa battled for 5 1/3 innings of the Rockies' 5-1 loss to the Nationals on Wednesday night, but said the opponent had the right approach and he made a key mistake.

De La Rosa said Thursday the Nationals simply refused to chase his breaking pitches out of the zone, and left him having to get outs with mainly his fastball and changeup.

The middle finger cut he suffered during his previous start, when he gave up 11 hits in five innings of a no-decision against the Padres, was not a factor, De La Rosa said.

"They had a lot of hitters that I hadn't faced very many times," said De La Rosa, who did not meet with reporters after the game. "They didn't swing at breaking balls. They waited for me to throw the fastball.

"Then I made a mistake with Ryan Zimmerman [on a fifth-inning RBI double that gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead]. I didn't think he was going to swing at my changeup, so I tried to throw it for a strike, and he hit it hard."