Colorado @ Arizona preview
Chase Field
Last Meeting ( Aug 21, 2010 ) Colorado 1, Arizona 3
It’s looking more and more like the Colorado Rockies have lost hope on the 2010 season.
The Rockies will be trying to locate a spark when they attempt to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday.
A strong second-half team during their playoff runs of 2007 and 2009, Colorado has fallen way off the pace this season after being near the top of the National League West at the All-Star break. The offense has been the culprit lately, averaging just 1.4 runs per game while dropping four of their last five.
For a team that is considerably behind some of the other NL playoff contenders in terms of starting pitching depth, the Rockies really need to pound the ball in order to make up any ground in the race.
They managed only four hits in Saturday’s 3-1 loss, scoring their only run on a fielder’s choice in the second. Not even the return of their top offensive player, Carlos Gonzalez, could help the drought. Gonzalez walked in one at-bat as a pinch hitter on Saturday after missing the previous two games with a knee injury.
Colorado’s failure to push any runs across wasted another strong start by Ubaldo Jimenez, who allowed three hits in seven innings. Jimenez has not won in his last three starts despite strong performances in each.
Daniel Hudson will be trying to bounce back from his first National League loss when he takes the mound today for the Diamondbacks. The key piece of the trade that sent Edwin Jackson to the Chicago White Sox at the deadline, Hudson has been strong in the NL, going 3-1 with a 2.12 ERA and a .208 batting average against.
But the 23-year-old right-hander couldn’t get any support from the Arizona offense on Tuesday and suffered the loss, yielding three runs and nine hits in seven innings while striking out 10 against Cincinnati.
The Rockies will counter with a promising young pitcher of their own in Jhoulys Chacin. Bouncing back and forth between the bullpen and the rotation this season, Chacin made a start at Los Angeles on Tuesday and did not fare well, surrendering five runs and five hits while walking five in five innings. He has not earned a win since a start on July 2.
Chacin has faced the Diamondbacks three times this season - two starts - and has gone 1-1 with a 3.55 ERA. The last of those was a start on June 5 in which he allowed four runs - three earned - and six hits while striking out nine in 5 2/3 innings to suffer the loss.