DENVER -- Early on, Stephen Strasburg didnt have his best stuff and yet the powerful right-hander tried to bear down to keep his team close. Almost paid off, too. The Washington Nationals loaded the bases in the ninth before falling 6-4 to Jorge De La Rosa and the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. Strasburg (7-8) settled in after a shaky start, giving up four runs -- three of which were in the first -- and nine hits over 5 1-3 innings. "Giving up three runs early, I couldve easily shut it down," Strasburg said. "I didnt want to do that. I wanted to keep it as close as possible. Give the guys a chance to come back -- anything can happen here." And almost did. Closer LaTroy Hawkins got the first two outs in the ninth, before allowing RBI singles to Jayson Werth and Anthony Rendon to make it a 6-4 game. With the bases loaded, Hawkins struck out Ian Desmond to end the rally. "You have to tip your cap sometimes. He did a good job," Desmond said. "He made some pitches on me. "We did a good job battling back right there. We kept on grinding away. Ill take us in that situation a lot of times." Denard Span had four hits for the Nationals, who finished the season series 5-1 against Colorado. He was one of the few to have success against De La Rosa, who gave the Rockies a badly needed boost as they snapped a seven-game skid. "Jorge, another great outing. He did it again," manager Walt Weiss said. "Were scuffling like crazy and he takes the ball and gives us a great performance and wins the game." The Rockies tried a little bit of everything to break out of their funk. They wore their socks high and even engaged in a pregame staring contest. Turns out, the best cure for their slump was simply the left arm of De La Rosa. De La Rosa (11-6) struck out a season-high 11 as he pitched efficiently into the eighth inning. He kept the Nationals guessing by effectively mixing in a changeup with his 89-mph cutter. "All my pitches were working really good today," said De La Rosa, who allowed two runs -- one earned -- before being lifted for a reliever with one out in the eighth. "My command of all my pitches was really good today." The Rockies decided as a team to wear their socks high, just to try something new. Even Weiss followed the trend. This helped ease the tension, too: Prior to the first pitch, Rockies outfielder Brandon Barnes and Nationals reliever Aaron Barrett engaged in quite a stare-down, with both players standing near the dugout holding their hats over their chest to see who would blink first. After several minutes, Barnes finally gestured toward Barrett that they settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissor. Right after De La Rosas warmup pitches, home plate umpire Paul Emmel told Barnes go into the dugout, with Barrett throwing his hands up in triumph. "Well do any stare-down to win games, for sure," joked Nolan Arenado. Once again, De La Rosa mastered a park that typically isnt friendly to pitchers. Hes 42-14 lifetime at Coors Field. "This is the perfect park for me," he said. Usually, its the hitters saying that. De La Rosa had his pitches dancing all day. He struck out Bryce Harper three times. The Nationals were just 1 of 14 with runners in scoring position off De La Rosa. "He knows how to pitch here," Nationals manager Matt Williams said. "Hes got a surprising fast ball when he needs it, but he relies on his changeup a lot. Thats a great strategy here. "Hes a good pitcher. He pitches well." The Nationals were without infielder Ryan Zimmerman, who went on the 15-day disabled list Wednesday with a strained right hamstring. "Its a pretty substantial strain of the hamstring," Williams said. "You never know how its going to react, so well just take it day by day. Its going to be a couple of weeks at least. Well see where he is at the end of that and go from there. He pulled it good." NOTES: Werth wasnt in the starting lineup because of a tender right knee. ... The Nationals are off Thursday before opening a three-game series in Cincinnati. Jarius Wright Jersey . Nine-year veteran Danny Granger did not make his debut with the Clippers because of a technicality on the teams active list, which is signed by coach Doc Rivers before every game and relayed to the officials. Grangers name was printed by hand by a member of the public relations staff under the heading: "Updated Roster Additions," but the number on the sheet was not circled along with the other active players by the required deadline of 6:30 p. DJ Moore Jersey .com) - James Harden needed just seven made field goals to drop 35 points on the Philadelphia 76ers, leading the Houston Rockets to a 104-93 win on Monday. http://www.thepanthersofficialstore.com ... rs-jersey/. Brazilian striker Brandao opened the scoring with a header in the 55th minute before winger Franck Tabanou volleyed home from close range to double the lead in the 61st. Panthers Jerseys . Moments after his Brooklyn Nets teammates ran out onto the court to congratulate him following their 100-98 overtime win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, Johnson could only shake his head at scoring only 13 points on 6-of-19 shooting. DJ Moore Panthers Jersey .J. -- All those records, all for naught.HOUSTON -- Rougned Odor has had a rough start to his Major League career. Things quickly turned around for him on Monday night. The rookie second baseman collected his first home run and drove in his first two runs as Colby Lewis threw 5 2-3 shutout innings, and Adrian Beltre also homered to lead the Texas Rangers to a 4-0 win over the Houston Astros. Odor, who entered Monday just 2 for 12, had two hits, including a run-scoring single in the fourth and a homer in the sixth -- a solo shot into the upper deck in right field -- to make it 4-0. "He swung the bat well, especially that base hit he got up the middle," Texas manager Ron Washington said. "He (Brad Peacock) threw him a fastball away and he stayed on the pitch and didnt try to do much with it but hit it where it was. And then he went up there and took a chance that he was going to throw him a first-pitch fastball and got the head out." Washington said one thing about Odor was that he walked up to plate confident and not scared. Odour said through a translator that he felt good. "Im not scared because its the same as down in the minor leagues," Odor said. "I take it in that perspective." Lewis (3-2) struck out a season-high eight and allowed seven hits to improve to 4-0 in his career at Minute Maid Park. The right-hander bounced back from a poor outing against Colorado on Wednesday where he allowed seven runs in less than four innings. Lewis said he was able to flip the breaking ball for strikes, and when that pitch is sharp, you can use it to get a couple more outs. "Thats kind of what you want as a starting pitcher," Lewis said. "You want to have at least three of the four working for you and when you have four of the four pitches working for you it makes for an easier night. I was able to flip breaking balls in there when I needed to early. The slider was sharp. The change-up got me some quick outs a couple times and that was beneficial for sure." Beltre, who snapped a 0 for 11 slump, had two hits, including a two-run home run to left in the third. Prince Fielder also had two hits. "Its always nice to help your ballclub win games," Beltre said. "I know that I need to be doing thaat more often and hopefully thatll be the start of something better.dddddddddddd" Brad Peacock (0-4) struck out a career-high 11 but allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings. Peacocks previous career-high for strikeouts was 10 at Minnesota on Aug. 4, 2013. "From the get-go, I wanted to try to attack these guys and try to keep the ball down and mix in my other pitches," Peacock said. "I was able to do that for the most part. I felt good tonight." Jose Altuve had three hits, and Matt Dominguez and George Springer each had two hits for the Astros, who left 12 runners on base in losing for the eighth time in the last 10 games. "Look at the number of hits we had and baserunners, we had guys who were getting hits and getting on base," Houston manager Bo Porter said. "We just were not getting the big hit that would plate runs in those situations." Lewis exited after singles by Dominguez and Springer, combined with a Mitch Moreland error, put runners on second and third with two outs in the sixth, but Nick Martinez induced a Chris Carter groundout to end the threat. The Astros threatened again in the eighth, putting runners on the corners with one out after singles by Dominguez and Springer, but Neal Cotts struck out Carter and Jesus Guzman to end the inning. NOTES: Washington said he would not know until Wednesday whether lefty Martin Perez lands on the disabled list. "Right now, our thought is to wait until Wednesday and see what more information we have and then well make a decision," Washington said. "If its just for him to miss a start, then we have to do something else. If it gets to that point where he has to go on the DL, we dont have to make the decision until Wednesday." Perez experienced discomfort in his left elbow after failing to get out of the fourth Saturday night. ... Texas infielder Josh Wilson accepted the outright assignment to Triple-A Round Rock. Wilson was designated for assignment May 8. ... Houston will send left-hander Dallas Keuchel, who is 3-2 with a 3.68 ERA this season to the mound Tuesday against lefty Matt Harrison, who is 1-0, in the second game of the three-game. Cheap Jerseys Store Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Camo China NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Store Cheap Authentic Jerseys Youth NFL Jerseys Cheap ' ' '