DENVER -- Pulled in the fifth inning, Jorge De La Rosa trudged off the mound. Not the way the franchises winningest pitcher wanted to finish what might have been his final start in a Colorado uniform.De La Rosa struggled with his control as the Rockies lost 10-5 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.The left-hander allowed eight runs -- seven earned -- in 4 2/3 innings. He also walked three and gave up two homers.With the Rockies wanting to get a look at some younger arms, manager Walt Weiss said this was likely De La Rosas last start of 2016. His contract expires after this season.De La seemed like he didnt have a great command of the secondary stuff like the changeup. It usually is his best weapon, Weiss said. It looked like he just didnt have a lot of depth to his stuff.Over the years, De La Rosa (8-9) demonstrated that he could win consistently at Coors Field. Hes 53-20 with a 4.31 ERA at the ballpark in 106 games with Colorado, including 99 starts.Hes the poster boy for showing that you can pitch in an offensive park here at altitude, Weiss said. A lot of it has to do with his competitiveness. He never gives in.De La Rosas toughest out Tuesday was pitcher Adam Wainwright, who shined in the batters box with a career-high four RBI as the Cardinals moved into a three-way tie with the Mets and Giants for the two NL wild cards.Wainwright credits inching just a little bit closer to the plate for his newfound prowess with the bat.My whole career, Ive fought trying to pull the ball and tried to stay up the middle and hit the ball to right field. It just doesnt work for me very well, explained Wainwright, who has 18 RBI this season. If its a pitch in the strike zone, Im going to swing at it.The free-swinging Wainwright lined a two-run double in the second inning and brought in two more with a bloop single in the fifth. Matt Adams and Jedd Gyorko homered for the Cardinals.The 35-year-old Wainwright (12-9) didnt have his sharpest command, yielding solo homers to Daniel Descalso, Charlie Blackmon and Gerardo Parra. But the right-hander was sharp enough -- especially his curveball -- as he gave up four runs in 5 1/3 innings.In a park like this, in a place where no lead is safe, a pitcher, if you can go out there and push something across ... youre doing your job, Wainwright explained.Wainwright became the second straight Cardinals pitcher to play a starring role at the plate. Carlos Martinez had a two-run double in a 5-3 win on Monday.Adams had a solo homer in the second and Gyorko added a two-run shot in the fourth -- a 452-foot no-doubter to center. Gyorko has 27 homers this season.DJ LeMahieus average remained at .349 after he went 1 for 3 with a double. He holds a slight lead over Washingtons Daniel Murphy in the NL batting race. Murphy is hitting .347.TRAINERS ROOMRockies: Third base coach Stu Cole was hit in the head by a ball that caromed off another during batting practice. He checked out OK after being taken to the hospital. The Rockies moved Eric Young over to coach third, and Vinny Castilla served as the first base coach. He got hit pretty hard, Weiss said of Cole. He got his bell rung, for sure. We wanted to keep him off his feet tonight.STARTING THINGS OFFWith his fifth-inning homer, Blackmon drove in his 75th run of the season from the leadoff spot, surpassing the club record of 74 set by Young in 1996.Im kind of upset that his record got broken, but Im glad it was me, Blackmon chuckled. I dont know if hed say that, but I will.UP NEXTThe Cardinals will send RHP Luke Weaver (1-3, 3.21 ERA) to the mound in the series finale Wednesday. The Rockies counter with righty German Marquez (0-0), who will make his first major league start after three relief appearances. Greg Maddux Cubs Jersey . Note: The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that Sean Monahan would not be made available to Canadas World Junior team. Billy Williams Cubs Jersey . Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front. http://www.cubsauthentic.com/cubs-ryne-sandberg-jersey/ . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. Considering that his team has been without star guard Russell Westbrook and with the free agent departure of sharpshooter Kevin Martin, hes had to carry the majority of the load to not only keep his team afloat but more importantly, at an elite level. Kyle Schwarber Jersey . For the Wild it was their first win of the season and they now have a record of 1-1-2 while the Jets fall to 2-2. Jets start a six game home stand Friday with another divisional game, home to the Dallas Stars. Anthony Rizzo Jersey . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A veteran team that sees the big picture, the Los Angeles Clippers were a bit subdued following their latest victory.Blake Griffin had 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Clippers built a large lead and then held off the Sacramento Kings 121-115 on Friday night.The Clippers (11-2) have won eight of nine and own the NBAs best record. They led by 26 points in the opening half and are unbeaten in six road games this season. But no one in the Los Angeles locker room felt good about letting the struggling Kings back in the game.A win is a win, but its kind of frustrating, Chris Paul said. We expect more from each other.Trailing by 19 points entering the fourth quarter, the Kings cut the margin to 117-115 on Matt Barnes free throw with 2:03 remaining. Los Angeles responded with a dunk by DeAndre Jordan before Paul made two free throws to push the lead back to six.Sacramento never scored again.They went small and it felt like they scored every time down, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. It felt like we were in the North Carolina four-corner offense. Its great to win, but we want to be better than that.DeMarcus Cousins helped fuel the comeback with 38 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for the Kings.Barnes had 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter, when Sacramento outscored Los Angeles 30-17.Once again, were just waiting at the last minute to play with energy, Cousins said. Its all fun and exciting in the end, but these games are going to continue to get harder for us if we wait until the last quarter.Ty Lawson added 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the Kings, and Darren Collison scored 16. Barnes had 10 fourth-quarter points and made four of Sacramentos 10 3-pointers to finish with 15.J.J. Redick hit six 3s and scored 22 of his 26 points in the first half for the Clippers. Jordan had 16 points and 12 rebounds, Austin Rivers finished with 12 points and Paul added 11 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds.Redick, who connected on his first six 3-point attempts, has made a 3 in 69 consecutive gammes, the longest active streak in the NBA.ddddddddddddJ.J. got it going (in the first quarter) and we did whatever we could to get it back to him, Rivers said.It was the fourth straight loss for the Kings. They are 2-4 at home, where they face Toronto, Oklahoma City and Houston the next three games.Kings coach Dave Joerger experimented with a smaller lineup that featured Lawson and Collison in the backcourt.Im going to play small going forward. Ive seen enough, Joerger said. DeMarcus is going to play center. I dont know who else is going to play with him, but it gives us more zip.TIP-INSClippers: Los Angeles shot 5 of 18 in the fourth quarter, yet still wound up shooting 52.6 percent overall. ... Playing his first game of the season, Paul Pierce made his first two shots, a pair of 3-pointers in the second quarter. ... Paul missed his first five shots and didnt have a basket until late in the third.Kings: Lawson hit a 3 and converted a free throw for a four-point play in the first quarter. ... Taking turns guarding Griffin in the first quarter, Kosta Koufos and Willie Cauley-Stein combined for five fouls. Griffin made seven of eight free throws. ... Cousins made a shot from near halfcourt to end the first half.HOT STARTLos Angeles enjoyed its most productive half of the season, shooting 70 percent and leading 73-54 at the break. The Clippers had 17 assists and went 10 of 13 from 3-point range. They got superior play from their starters -- and the reserves were productive as well, contributing 23 points.That first half was beautiful. I dont know if we can play any better than that, Rivers said.MAIN MANGriffin was too much for the Kings, shooting 7 of 15 from the field and making 15 of 16 free throws. He also had two steals and a block in just under 37 minutes.UP NEXTClippers: Los Angeles hosts Chicago on Saturday night.Kings: NBA scoring leader DeMar DeRozan and the Toronto Raptors visit Sacramento on Sunday night. ' ' '