Arizona @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( Apr 28, 2010 ) Arizona 12, Colorado 11
Ian Kennedy's transition to the National League has gone well so far.
Acquired from the New York Yankees in December, Kennedy has won three of his last four decisions and has given his team a chance to win nearly every time out. He has pitched into the seventh inning in six consecutive starts and has pitched eight innings three times in that stretch.
The 25-year-old right-hander has also shown some toughness. Despite getting hit on the right leg by a hard smash off the bat of San Francisco's Aaron Rowand in his last start, Kennedy turned in a solid performance against the Giants. He struck out a career-high nine and allowed one earned run and three hits in eight innings.
So while everything has been positive for Kennedy to date in his new surroundings, perhaps his true indoctrination to the National League will come on Tuesday when he gets his first shot at Coors Field.
Or, depending on your point of view, Coors Field gets its first shot at him.
Many hurlers before Kennedy have flinched their first time around in the hitter-happy ballpark where balls fly over the fence with alarming regularity, as far as pitchers are concerned.
As well as Kennedy has pitched, there is one number that could cause a slight glitch. The fact he has already allowed nine home runs in 58 1/3 innings isn't a good sign going into a start in this particular ballpark.
Colorado rookie Jhoulys Chacin will look to turn it around after two rocky starts. The right-hander has lost his last two starts to the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs, and hasn't made it through the sixth inning in either game. Chacin has allowed 11 hits and nine earned runs in 10 2/3 innings. He had a tough time finding the strike zone against the Cubs, walking five in 5 2/3 innings.
Mastering his control is obviously the key for Chacin, who is holding hitters to .188 average. He has given up 18 hits and struck out 25 in 26 innings, but has walked 11.
Chacin was dominating in his first two starts, throwing seven shutout innings against the Giants and blanking the Los Angeles Dodgers over 7 1/3 innings.
The Diamondbacks had their season-high four-game winning streak snapped Sunday in a 12-4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. Arizona begins a nine-game trip to its three division foes.
The Rockies are coming off an 11-7 win over the Kansas City Royals in which they pounded last season's American League Cy Young winner Zack Grienke for eight runs in 3 1/3 innings.
The Diamondbacks won two of three in Arizona when the teams met in April.