Rocks tie Mariners in spring ball
Mar 15th
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Rockies loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the 10th, but Mariners pitcher Dominic Leone fanned Kent Matthes to preserve a 2-2 tie at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on Friday, in front of a sellout crowd of 12,063.
It was the eighth game in five days for the Rockies, who lost earlier in the day to the Giants, 4-0, at Scottsdale Stadium.
Rockies lefty Franklin Morales, competing with righty Jordan Lyles for the final rotation spot, struck out four in four innings but gave up two big hits. Stefen Romero homered in the first inning. Brad Miller tripled to open the third and scored on Abraham Almonte‘s sacrifice fly. Morales said both big hits were on split-finger pitches.
Still, Morales, who has been a reliever much of his career with the Red Sox and the Rockies but relishes the chance to start, was happy with his plan. Morales has a 3.97 ERA in 11 1/3 innings this spring. Lyles has a 1.13 ERA in eight spring innings.
Morales gave up two runs but is satisfied with his performance
“I feel very good,” Morales said. “Only thing I tried to do was attack the hitter. It doesn’t matter what happens in the game. When you put your pitch in your spot, it’s going to be fine.”
It was a big swing for Romero, who played at Triple-A Tacoma last year and is trying to land a spot as a backup outfielder. Romero opened the spring 0-for-8, but since then is 9-for-19 with two home runs, two doubles and two triples.
Mariners ace Felix Hernandez — preparing for his club-record seventh Opening Day start on March 31 against the Angels — held the Rockies to one unearned run and two hits in his four innings. Michael Cuddyer, who went 2-for-3 with a double, scored the only run off Hernandez on a wild throw when second baseman Jack Reinheimer was trying to complete a double play.
But Reinheimer and shortstop Miller completed a dazzling double play on a Cuddyer grounder in the fourth.
Hernandez felt better after rebounding from his last outing, when he gave up four runs in 2 1/3 innings to the Rangers.
“My last time out was too many runs,” he said. “I wanted to get my work in and I was happy with the results. Today was good.”
Rockies closer LaTroy Hawkins worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the fifth.
Mariners righty Erasmo Ramirez, competing for a rotation spot, wiggled in and out of trouble. He gave up leadoff doubles in the sixth and seventh but escaped unscathed. However, the Rockies’ Cristhian Adames walked, moved to third on DJ LeMahieu‘s hit-and-run single, and scored on Charlie Blackmon‘s sacrifice fly to tie the score at 2. Ramirez gave up one run on four hits and struck out three in four innings.
Mariners first baseman Corey Hart, a free-agent signing this winter, went 0-for-3 in his return from being out for five games with a stiff lower back.
Up next: When Spring Training started, talk was righty Juan Nicasio‘s rotation spot was up for grabs. But through two Cactus League starts, Nicasio is unscored upon and has seven strikeouts in seven innings, and it looks as if he just has to be healthy to be in the regular-season rotation. Nicasio will start Saturday against the Angels at 2:10 p.m. MT at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.
De La Rosa given nod for opening day
Mar 13th
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa received a reward Wednesday after a long and triumphant journey.
A Tommy John elbow surgery cost De La Rosa 16 months, from May 2011 to September 2012. Finally healed, De La Rosa posted his best career year in 2013 — 16-6 with a 3.49 ERA — and was one of the brightest performers in a last-place season for Colorado.
The performance, his years of accomplishment in a Rockies uniform, and the fact he is healthy led Rockies manager Walt Weiss to name De La Rosa the starting pitcher in the season opener on March 31 at Miami. The Marlins will start righty Jose Fernandez.
“I think it was a hard time, the last three years,” De La Rosa said. “Last year, I think of all the sacrifice I did, and rehab and everything. This year, I think it’s going to be exciting for me. I’m ready for this, and I hope I can help this team to win a lot of games again.”
De La Rosa is at full strength after surgery
Weiss is happy to reward De La Rosa.
“He’s worked really hard, and he deserves it,” Weiss said. “He’s a great pitcher for us, a great pitcher at our park.”
The decision also puts De La Rosa in position for two starts in April against the Giants, a National League West foe against whom he has had success (8-4, 3.90 ERA in 19 games, 16 starts).
Last season, De La Rosa, who turns 33 on April 5, matched the career-high wins total he established in 2009, but did it with a lower ERA, and went 10-1 with a 2.76 ERA in 14 starts at Coors Field. De La Rosa pitched through a bruised left thumb for much of the second half of last season.
The 2013 performance was enough to convince the Rockies to pick up his $11 million club option. Although he will be a free agent at season’s end, De La Rosa has said he would like to stay with the Rockies.
De La Rosa was at his best after a Rockies loss — 10-0 with a 3.52 ERA in 14 of those starts. Now the Rockies are counting on him to start the season on the right track.
“It’s exciting for me,” De La Rosa said. “It’s an honor for me to be the Opening Day starter. It’s going to be my first one. Not too many guys can do this in their career. I’m ready for the challenge.”
Going into Spring Training, the Opening Day start was a toss-up between De La Rosa and righty Jhoulys Chacin, who also rebounded from injury in 2013 and went 14-10 with 3.47 ERA in 31 starts last season. But Chacin reported to camp suffering from pain and inflammation in his throwing shoulder and has yet to throw a bullpen session. He is improving but is still expected to miss two or three starts.
Still, De La Rosa expects the rotation, buoyed by the addition of left-hander Brett Anderson — last season’s Opening Day starter for the Athletics — and with righties Tyler Chatwood and Juan Nicasio entering with another season’s experience, to be a team strength. The Rockies have finished last in the National League West the last two seasons, but De La Rosa sees enough talent for dramatic improvement.
“We’ve got a lot of good pitching right here,” De La Rosa said. “I think Anderson can be a No. 1, too. They say I will be the opener, and I said yes. It’s an honor for me to be the Opening Day pitcher.
“It’s a goal to be in the playoffs and go as far as we can. I think we’ve got enough talent to be in the playoffs or win the World Series. I believe in this team a lot. I think we can do it. We’ll see what happens.”
Weiss also revealed that he is considering using lefties De La Rosa and Anderson consecutively in the rotation. They work at different paces — De La Rosa the most deliberately of any Rockies starter, Anderson at a lightning pace — and are different enough to not create a problem.
“We can go either way there — I talked about splitting them up early on, but that’s not the priority, really,” Weiss said. “We’ll see. There’s the possibility they could go back-to-back.
“It makes it tough on opposing left-handed hitters. If there’s a semi-platoon, with two left-handers back-to-back, they’re not going to sit a good left-hander out back-to-back. It kind of puts them in a spot to make a decision.”
De La Rosa is thankful to be healthy enough to earn his status.
The elbow injury occurred on May 24, 2011. De La Rosa expected to miss about a calendar year and seemed ahead of schedule, but setbacks kept occurring. He didn’t make it back to the mound until Sept. 20, 2012. The team was long out of contention, and De La Rosa spent so much effort rehabbing that he was not in good condition. He went 0-2 with a 9.28 ERA in three starts, and was a question mark heading into last season.
“It’s hard when you get setbacks like I had that year when I got the surgery,” he said. “It puts a lot of things in your mind, but I never gave up. I kept working the same way, and I’m here now. I’ve got a good year last year, and I hope I can have good years like I had last year, something similar or better than I had last year.”
Rockies scatter hits, can’t manage runs vs. Padres
Mar 11th
Arenado, CarGo each collect two base knocks; Morales allows three runs
By Cash Kruth / MLB.com | 3/10/2014 7:10 P.M. ET
Nolan Arenado went 2-for-2, but the Rockies couldn’t manage a run against the Padres. (Chris Carlson/AP)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Padres right-hander Andrew Cashner continued his Cactus League shutout streak and second baseman Ryan Jackson homered to lead San Diego to a 5-0 win over the Rockies on Monday at Salt River Fields.
Cashner, the Padres’ projected Opening Day starter, ran his Spring Training scoreless-innings streak to nine by tossing four shutout frames, scattering five hits and striking out one.
“He had good velocity and good movement to his two-seamer,” said Padres manager Bud Black of Cashner, who got nine ground-ball outs with the pitch. “He did a good job keeping the ball down with his two-seamer.”
San Diego scored three runs off Rockies left-hander Franklin Morales in the second, as Alex Castellanos began the rally with a single in his first Padres at-bat since being claimed off waivers Thursday from the Rangers.
Franklin Morales allowed three runs in the game
Jackson followed with a two-run homer to left, while catcher Rene Rivera doubled, advanced to third on Cashner’s single and scored on a wild pitch.
“I threw a lot of strikes, made my pitches,” Morales said. “Sometimes you miss your pitch, and that’s when you get hit.”
Padres catcher Yasmani Grandal was 1-for-2 in his Cactus League debut coming off last season’s ACL injury, while first baseman/outfielder Tommy Medica continued his torrid spring by going 1-for-3.
The Rockies got two hits a piece from left fielder Carlos Gonzalez and third baseman Nolan Arenado, while first baseman Justin Morneau was 0-for-2 in his first action of the spring.
