Cincinnati @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 6, 2010 ) Cincinnati 5, Colorado 10
Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki have been fueling the Colorado Rockies in their quest for a postseason berth.
A legitimate Triple Crown contender, Gonzalez has ridden his current 14-game hitting streak to a National League-best .340 batting average. The 24-year-old Venezuelan's 31 home runs and 97 RBIs are nothing to cry about, either.
For his part, Tulowitzki has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games and is batting .340 since Aug. 23.
On Monday, Tulowitzki belted his third home run in four games and Gonzalez added a two-run double as Colorado (73-64) recorded a 10-5 victory over the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds (79-58) in the series opener.
Winners of 11 of their last 15, the Rockies will send Jhoulys Chacin (7-9, 3.69 ERA) to the hill on Tuesday against Johnny Cueto (12-4, 3.41 ERA) and the Reds.
The Reds are looking to Cueto to keep a modest slump into becoming something more pronounced. Cincinnati, which has dropped three of its last four contests, has seen its lead in the NL Central fall from eight games to six over the St. Louis Cardinals (72-63).
For its part, Colorado remains hot on the heels of the NL West-leading San Diego Padres (77-59), who snapped their 10-game losing streak on Monday. The Rockies trail the Padres by 4 1/2 games in the NL West - and are now a full five games back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the race for the wild card.
Chacin will look to continue the charge.
The 22-year-old Venezuelan posted victories in back-to-back solid starts of seven-plus innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively.
In his last start, Chacin permitted three runs - one earned - in 5 1/3 innings against the Phillies on Thursday. The bullpen imploded, however, and Chacin was left with a no-decision after the Phillies recorded a 12-11 triumph at Citizens Bank Park.
As for Cueto, the right-hander will be returning to the team after traveling to his native Dominican Republic to deal with the death of a family member.
Cueto has yielded just two runs in his last two starts - earning one victory in the process. In his last start, Cueto permitted one run and five hits in six innings, but received a no-decision in his team's 6-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.
He'll have to keep an explosive Colorado offense at bat. In addition to Gonzalez and Tulowitzki, the Rockies banged out 13 hits in Monday's victory.
Miguel Olivo and Eric Young had run-scoring hits and scored twice and Dexter Fowler added a pair of hits as well.