Reds-Rockies Preview
No one knew what Tyler Chatwood would be capable of after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery nearly two years ago. Needless to say, the Colorado Rockies are plenty impressed with how he's performed. He'll try for a second straight solid outing at Coors Field when he takes the mound Wednesday night against the Cincinnati Reds. Chatwood (6-3, 2.69 ERA) was great again Friday, allowing only an unearned run and four hits in seven innings of a 5-2 win over San Francisco. It marked the sixth time in 10 starts that he's allowed one earned run or fewer. The right-hander, who had Tommy John surgery after four starts in 2014 and missed all of last year recovering, had a 6.65 ERA in four home starts prior to that compared to his baseball-best 0.53 road ERA. He also didn't walk a batter for the first time since his first outing of the season. ''That's what we talked to Chatty about in spring training - just to keep your expectations realistic, because he's such a competitor and a perfectionist,'' manager Walt Weiss said. ''He's gone above and beyond so far this year. You can't realistically expect him to do what he's doing after missing two years, but he's a pretty special kid.'' Weiss hopes the offense saved some pop for Chatwood's outing after the Rockies (24-27) tied a season high for runs and snapped a three-game skid with Tuesday's 17-4 rout of the Reds (17-35). Colorado also tied a franchise record set in 1997 by homering seven times, including two apiece from Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado. "I've been in a lot of games where we score a lot of runs, but today was impressive, because everybody was hitting a home run,'' Carlos Gonzalez said. ''I'm happy that I was part of it.'' Blackmon led off the Rockies' half of the first with a homer for the second straight day to extend his hitting streak to nine, and Arenado drove in DJ LeMahieu two batters later with a shot of his own as they scored five times in the opening inning. Colorado scored six more in the seventh, highlighted by Blackmon's grand slam. Gonzalez homered in his fourth straight while going 3 for 5 and is batting .514 during his own nine-game hitting streak. LeMahieu went 4 for 4 with a homer and four runs scored while improving his average to .378 during his 10-game run. John Lamb will be tasked with shutting down the Rockies' explosive lineup. The Reds have lost each of Lamb's five starts, but he didn't give them much of a chance Friday. Lamb (0-3, 6.85) allowed six runs and seven hits - two homers - and walked three in 3 2/3 innings of a 9-5 defeat at Milwaukee. He has a 10.54 ERA over his last three starts after giving up two runs in 10 innings in his first two. "Personally speaking, I'm hopeful for a good day at the office," Lamb said. "Just (taking it) day by day, doing what we can do.'' The left-hander has never faced the Rockies, who try to send Cincinnati to its 14th loss in 16 games. It finished with five homers, 11 runs and a season-high 17 hits while winning Monday's series opener but trailed 8-1 by the end of the third Tuesday. Joey Votto homered for the second straight day, and Jay Bruce finished a single short of the cycle. Bruce is batting .435 with seven extra-base hits over a five-game hitting streak at Coors Field. |