Final
Rockies-Diamondbacks Preview
Aug 22, 2010 - 4:46 AMVideo
Colorado (62-59) at Arizona (48-75), 4:10 p.m. EDT
The Arizona Diamondbacks have the worst bullpen in baseball, but it's hard to tell from this series.
The Diamondbacks relievers haven't allowed a run against the Colorado Rockies this weekend as they try to help Arizona finish a three-game sweep Sunday at Chase Field.
Arizona (49-75) has a 6.07 bullpen ERA that is a full run worse than any other team in the majors. That figure swelled to 8.25 during a four-game losing streak that preceded this series.
The beleaguered relievers, though, have combined to allow three hits over 7 1-3 scoreless innings in the first two games of this series. Four combined for five innings in Friday's 4-3, 10-inning victory, and four worked the final 2 1-3 innings in Saturday's 3-1 win.
The effort may have been a result of facing up-and-down Colorado (62-60), which leads the majors with a .298 average at home but is the worst in baseball at .229 on the road.
"There is no other explanation for 38-20 at home and 24-40 on the road. We just have not hit enough on the road," manager Jim Tracy said. "At times we don't even look like the same club on the road."
The Rockies managed four hits Saturday with center fielder Carlos Gonzalez out of the lineup for the third straight game. Gonzalez walked as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning, but it is unclear when he will recover sufficiently from a knee contusion to return to full-time action.
"It could be (Sunday), it could be the next day," Tracy told the Rockies' official website. "It's not a disabled list situation. It's a matter his muscle getting back to the point where it works how it is supposed to."
Colorado will get its first look at impressive rookie Daniel Hudson (3-1, 2.12 ERA), who will try to bounce back from his first loss with the Diamondbacks. Hudson gave up three runs over seven innings Tuesday in a 6-2 loss to Cincinnati after going 3-0 with a 1.59 ERA in his first three starts after being acquired July 30 from the Chicago White Sox.
The right-hander struck out 10 after striking out nine in his previous outing.
"I thought I threw the ball pretty well," Hudson said. "I had a few punchouts, but the last couple of innings I left a few balls up."
Colorado will counter with another rookie in Jhoulys Chacin (5-9, 4.33), who was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Spring on Tuesday and allowed five runs over five innings that night in a 6-0 road loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The right-hander has returned to the Rockies' rotation because of injuries to Jeff Francis and Aaron Cook. Chacin went 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in two starts against Arizona this year.
Right fielder Justin Upton was 0 for 6 with five strikeouts against Chacin in those games, but has turned in a strong series to this point.
Upton is 5 for 8 in the first two games after hitting a two-run homer off Colorado ace Ubaldo Jimenez on Saturday.
- Diamondbacks 0, Rockies 1 - FINAL
COLORADO ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
E Young 2b 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 .262
C Barmes 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .241
va-R Spilborghs ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 .267
H Street p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
D Fowler cf 3 0 2 1 1 0 0 .246
C Gonzalez rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 .315
T
Aug 22 6:45 PM - 39
roots - NL
AT ARIZONA - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY DEXTER FOWLER SCORED ERIC YOUNG
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, D FOWLER ON FIRST, 1 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: COLORADO 1
ARIZONA 0 TOP,8TH
DUE UP FOR COLORADO: C GONZALEZ (.316, 0-FOR-3)
Rockies 1, Diamondbacks 0 Top 8, 0 OutsAug 22 6:05 PM
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