Cincinnati @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 8, 2010 ) Cincinnati 2, Colorado 9
The crisp mountain air is certainly not cooling off the Colorado Rockies - and manager Jim Tracy wouldn't have it any other way.
Winners of 30 of 40 games at Coors Field, the Rockies (75-64) will vie for their season-best seventh straight victory when they attempt to finish off a sweep of the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds (79-60) on Thursday afternoon.
Colorado's bats have been red-hot during this series - particularly during Wednesday's 9-2 triumph over Cincinnati.
Troy Tulowitzki belted a three-run homer and added a solo shot and Seth Smith also went deep for the Rockies, who claimed their 13th win in 17 games.
Tulowitzki has been on absolute tear over his last seven games, belting five homers and collecting 13 RBIs while batting .400.
He's not alone as Triple Crown candidate Carlos Gonzalez extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single on Wednesday. The 24-year-old Venezuelan is batting a National League-leading .340. He also has a league-leading 100 RBIs - and his 32 home runs are just four off the pace of St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols.
Eric Young and Jonathan Herrera added two-run singles for Colorado, which remained 4 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves (80-60) in the race for the wild card. The Braves posted a 9-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday.
Jason Hammel (10-7, 4.25 ERA) will look to keep the Rockies rolling on Thursday.
The 28-year-old right-hander has won his previous two starts - including his last outing on Saturday when he allowed two runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings in a 6-2 victory over the NL West-leading San Diego Padres.
As hot as Colorado has been lately, Cincinnati has been equally as cold - dropping four in a row and five of its last six. Fortunately for Dusty Baker's club, it remained six games ahead of the Cardinals (72-65), who dropped an 8-1 decision to the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday.
Rookie Travis Wood will look to stop the bleeding.
The 23-year-old left-hander has won five of his previous six decisions - including his last outing. Wood permitted one run and five hits in seven innings in a 6-1 victory over the Cardinals on Saturday.
Joey Votto, who is also a Triple Crown candidate, went 3-for-3 with a run-scoring single. The Canadian now has 99 RBIs this season.
As for off-the-field news, Colorado right-hander Manuel Corpas underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday. The 27-year-old right-hander finished his season with a 3-5 mark, 10 saves and 4.62 ERA.