Story's 2-HR day unable to counter red-hot LA

DENVER -- The first game at Coors Field, much like the first game the Rockies play anywhere, is Trevor Story time.

Story's two home runs were the brightest spots for the Rockies on Friday in a 10-6 loss to the Dodgers in front of a sellout crowd 48,404. Story has gone deep in three of the Rockies' four home openers since his debut in 2016, with five total homers. But he was left lamenting the one big swing that didn't go his way.

In the third, with the score tied at 1 after Nolan Arenado's sacrifice fly and two runners on, Story lined a Kenta Maeda pitch toward first base. But Max Muncy snagged it and turned an unassisted double play. Maeda bobbed and weaved through five innings and gave up one run, while Rockies lefty Tyler Anderson gave up nine hits and six runs in four-plus innings.

"Maeda was good today, had some good stuff and was locating, keeping us off-balance," Story said. "When I did hit a ball hard, it was right at Muncy. You felt the momentum shift right there. It could've been a lot different."

Story had another tough at-bat in the fifth. After Arenado drew a two-out walk, Maeda disposed of Story on three pitches -- 92.7 and 92.2 mph fastballs, the second fouled off, followed by a nasty, 85.3 mph slider that plate umpire Lance Barrett called for strike three as it clipped the upper outside of the zone.

Story's home runs, which lifted his season total to three (he homered on Opening Day at Miami), came off Brock Stewart in the seventh inning and Yimi Garcia in the ninth. David Dahl also homered off Garcia.

Story's power-hitting finish Friday was a good turnaround. He was 5-for-25 with nine strikeouts on the road trip.

"I'm starting to feel better, for sure," said Story, who finished last year with 37 homers -- one fewer than Arenado's National League-leading total. "It's just little adjustments that make a big difference. I try not to overthink it."

After a 3-4 road trip during which the Rockies averaged 2.4 runs a game and struck out 12 or more times in four of the games, manager Bud Black was happy to see progress.

"David, that was a good swing, Trevor a couple home runs, Nolan got a knock there and drove in a run -- we got a little better as the game progressed," Black said.

Tough pattern

Going into his start at Milwaukee last Aug. 4, Anderson was 6-3 with a 3.69 ERA. While homer-prone, he was holding opponents to a .225/.294/.394 slash line. But in 12 regular-season starts since, Anderson is 1-8 with a 7.45 ERA. The Rockies have won just two of those games, scoring nine and 12 runs in those wins.

And Anderson is being hit hard. Muncy's homer for a 2-1 Dodgers lead in the fourth and Cody Bellinger's three-run shot to make it 6-1 in the fifth fit the pattern. Opponents have had a slash line of .325/.373/.742 since Aug. 4.

Both homers came on Anderson's four-seam fastball -- a pitch opponents are batting .390 against since Aug. 4. Over that period, the cutter, which was put in play four times and for singles by Seager and Turner, is being hit at a .400 average.

Anderson's changeup is his best pitch, so he needs command of his hard pitches. However, the fastball to Bellinger was inside -- usually his cold zone. But with six home runs already, Bellinger has no cold zone. Neither do the Dodgers, who got a Russell Martin homer off Carlos Estevez in the sixth to raise their total to an NL-best 21 through eight games.

"It seems like when they hit the ball, they put it at the right launch angle to get it out," Anderson said. "I'm sure they practice that."

Return of De La Rosa
Left-hander Jorge De La Rosa, the Rockies' career leader in wins with 86, has returned to the organization on a Minor League contract, the team announced Friday. Mostly a starter with the Rockies from 2008-16, De La Rosa is second in club history in starts (200), innings pitched at (1,141 1/3) and the leader in walks (481). De La Rosa spent the past two seasons as a reliever with the D-backs and Cubs.

De La Rosa, who turned 38 on Friday, lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., and will be training at the club's complex there before being assigned to a Minor League club.