MEDIA CLIPS – September 19, 2016

5- 4th leads Rockies to sweep of Padres

By Ben Weinrib and A.J. Cassavell / MLB.com | September 18th, 2016

DENVER -- Mark Reynolds led the way for the Rockies' five-run, fourth-inning rally but saw his season come to an end the next inning when he was hit by a pitch in the Rockies 6-3 win over the Padres, at Coors Field on Sunday. The win secured the Rockies' first sweep of the Padres since Aug. 5-7, 2014, and gave them the season series 10-9.

The Rockies couldn't manage much off San Diego starter Jarred Cosart until the fourth, which ended his night when they hit around. Reynolds' 14th homer of the season knocked in David Dahl, who doubled to left center.

After Tony Wolters singled to center, Cosart walked three batters, including DJ LeMahieu, who extended his career-best on-base streak to 34 games. Reliever Jose Dominguezcouldn't stop the bleeding, giving up a single to Carlos Gonzalez, which knocked in two more runs.

"I thought we did a good job working some at-bats," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "We didn't expand for them and bail them out. Cosart, I felt like, was throwing the ball really well. He got himself into some trouble with some walks, but his stuff was good and crisp. I thought we did a good job offensively. We've done a nice job in that aspect of the game, grinding out at-bats and make earn everything they get."

Reynolds suffered a broken hand during a fifth-inning at-bat when he was struck by a Dominguez pitch. He had just returned on Aug. 31 from a broken hamate bone in the same hand that required surgery.

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"It's tough," Reynolds said. "I had never broken a bone in my life, and I had two this year in the same hand. It's tough, but

I'm going to get it better and get ready for next year."

Chad Bettis earned his team-leading 13th win of the season -- the Rockies have won 15 of his last 18 starts -- by holding the Padres to three runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings. Adam Rosales homered in the second for San Diego, and Wil

Myers drove in two more on a sixth-inning double. But the Padres managed just two baserunners against Chris

Rusin, Boone Logan and , who earned his fifth save of the season.

"I still feel like the majority of this series we just weren't on the fastball," Padres manager Andy Green said.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Rockies turn to Rusin: Since being moved to the , Rusin has been mostly used in mopup situations when the starter left early. However, Weiss turned to the left-hander to protect a three-run lead with one out and runners on the corners in the sixth and left him in for another inning. Rusin has six straight scoreless outings.

"Rusin's been really good," Weiss said. "He's been a bit of a pleasant surprise here lately. He's coming in in a different role than we've used him in before that he's not necessarily accustomed to. He's been very effective. He's got a lot of big outs for us in the past few weeks."

Moving tribute: After his second-inning homer, Rosales honored teammateYangervis Solarte, whose wife died

Saturday after complications from her fight with cancer. Solarte -- who left the team Friday to be with his family -- does an overhand clap before skipping onto the plate after each . Rosales did just that after his shot on Sunday.

"Right when I hit it, I knew it was gone," Rosales said. "I went around first base, I thought about Yuliett and [Yangervis] the whole time. It was just a tribute. I feel like it would mean a lot to Solarte to know how much he means to us, how much his family means to the San Diego Padres."

Ottavino overcomes lefties: Ottavino's save was routine with only one baserunner put aboard, but he did especially well, considering three of the four batters faced were left-handed. Coming into the game, lefties were hitting .281 against him with a .410 on-base percentage, while he limited right-handers to a .118 average. 2

"It's just command," Ottavino said. "I've had trouble throwing certain pitches to lefties. I think it's because of the visual. So

I tried to switch some things up today, throw some different options I've been working on that allowed me to stay in the zone better and get in good counts. When I go ball one, ball two to a lefty, that's when I get in trouble."

Cosart comes undone: The Dahl double preceding Reynolds' homer was the turning point in Cosart's outing. The right- hander had thrown three scoreless frames to start his day, before giving up a blooper that dropped in front of Alex Dickerson. Things came unraveled from there.

"I've just got to find a way to minimize damage," Cosart said. "A lot of that is going to be slowing down the game. Hits like that are going to happen. I was pretty upset about it, it was probably visible. But you've got to block that stuff out."

Wil power: Myers cut into the Rockies' lead with his two-run double in the sixth inning. Ryan Schimpf followed with a single, as the Padres brought the tying run to the plate. But Rusin whiffed before getting catcher Hector

Sanchezto bounce to short.

QUOTABLE

"I think the only person who had faced him before was Parra. You get one at-bat against him, and you kind of see how his pitches are moving and what he's trying to do, and I know my first at-bat, I just missed a curveball. It kind of gives you that reassurance in your mind that the pitch is going to do when he throws it. Right there, I was able to get out front of it." -

- Reynolds, on his home run off Cosart

SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS

Bettis drew walks during plate appearances in the fourth and fifth innings, which is the 12th time in franchise history that a has walked twice in a game. Juan Nicasio was the last pitcher to do so, drawing two walks against the Giants on

April 9, 2013.

"Any time the pitcher is contributing offensively it means a lot," Weiss said. "A lot of times, that can be the difference in the game. You turn that lineup over and then all of a sudden, you have a big inning because a pitcher drew a walk or he got a single or just gave you a good, productive at-bat. We talk about that a lot, how important it is for the pitchers to be involved, and a couple walks by Chad today were big." 3

WHAT'S NEXT

Padres: The Friars open a three-game set against the D-backs Monday withClayton Richard on the hill. First pitch is slated for 7:10 p.m. PT. In six starts since joining the Padres rotation, Richard has allowed only six earned runs, and he's been especially adept at keeping the ball on the ground, with an MLB-best 66 percent ground-ball rate over the last 30 days.

Rockies: Rookie left-hander Tyler Anderson will get the call as the Rockies open a three-game series against the

Cardinals on Monday at 6:40 p.m. MT. Before giving up six runs over 4 1/3 innings in his last start, he limited opponents to four total runs over his previous three starts.

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Reynolds out for season with broken left hand

Rockies slugger was hit by pitch in fifth inning

By Ben Weinrib / MLB.com | September 18th, 2016

DENVER -- Rockies Mark Reynolds will miss the rest of the season with a fractured left hand after Padres reliever Jose Dominguez hit him in the fifth inning of Sunday's 6-3 win.

Reynolds had returned from the 15-day disabled list on Aug. 31 from a fractured hamate bone in the same hand that required surgery. The recovery was supposed to take six to eight weeks, but Reynolds returned in 20 days.

"It hurt," Reynolds said. "I have been hit in my hand a lot before, and I had never felt this kind of pain. Right when we went in for the X-rays -- I don't have a radiology degree by any means -- but I could see that it was broken."

Reynolds will be re-evaluated on Monday by Dr. Jennifer Kummer at Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Denver. He said that

Kummer did not think the injury would require surgery, but that the recover is six weeks in a cast whether or not he goes under the knife.

Before the injury, Reynolds sparked a five-run fourth inning with a two-run homer to left field. He was replaced by pinch runner Gerardo Parra -- who came around to score that inning -- and remained at first base.

The Rockies signed Reynolds as a free agent last winter on a one-year, $2.6 million deal, and he quickly took over as the team's starting first baseman. He slashed .281/.354/.442 with 14 home runs -- one more than his career low in 10 Major

League seasons.

Reynolds was 9-for-32 with two homers, a double, and four walks in 12 games since coming back from the injury, seven of which he started.

"He worked hard to get back from the hamate very quickly," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "It's unfortunate he's not going to be able to get to the finish line with us. He's done a really nice job."

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Reynolds was in a good mood after the game despite the news.

"I had never broken a bone in my life, and I had two this year in the same hand," Reynolds said.

"It's going to hurt my golf game a little bit, but what are you going to do?"

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Ottavino out to solve struggles vs. lefty hitters

Rockies closer throws a scoreless ninth to notch fifth save on Sunday

By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | September 18th, 2016

DENVER -- Sunday afternoon, like most games this time of year against teams with expanded rosters, was another chance for Rockies closer Adam Ottavino to address his greatest weakness.

The right-handed Ottavino faced four Padres batters in the bottom of the ninth inning. What's instructive is he defeated the three left-handed hitters he faced -- two on -- to earn his fifth save of the season in the Rockies' 6-3 victory at

Coors Field.

Ottavino extracted a groundout from leadoff man Oswaldo Arcia, struck out Hector Sanchez and, after the right-handed

Adam Rosales singled, fanned Luis Sardinas with the count full. Before setting down Arcia, Sanchez and Sardinas, lefties were batting .281 and had a .410 on-base percentage against him in 39 plate appearances.

To be an effective closer, Ottavino will have to improve those numbers. But the 30-year-old doesn't care what inning he pitches -- after all, the three-year, $10.4 million contract he signed last winter does not include any incentives for saves.

Still, he knows he needs to perform better against lefties.

"Yes," Ottavino answered in the middle of a question about how beating lefties would make him a more viable closer. "...

Regardless of when they use me, I'll be a lot more useful to the team, whether that be closing or whatever.

"If I'm only effective versus righties, I'm very limited in how the team can use me."

This time against a trio of Padres left-handed hitters, Ottavino -- whose wipeout slider helps him hold righties to .118 with a .151 OBP -- found a workable combination of fastballs, sliders and cutters against the lefties.

"It's just command," Ottavino said. "I've had trouble throwing certain pitches to lefties. I think it's because of the visual. So

I tried to switch some things up today, throw some different options I've been working on that allowed me to stay in the zone better and get in good counts. When I go ball one, ball two to a lefty, that's when I get in trouble." 7

Ottavino's work completed a day in which he and lefties Chris Rusin and Logan combined for seven strikeouts in 3 2/3 scoreless innings to hold starter Chad Bettis' lead.

Ottavino had seemingly put the right-on-left issue to bed last season before suffering a season-ending elbow injury in late

April. In 10 appearances, which included three saves, he held lefties to a .133 average and .188 on base in 16 plate appearances, which wasn't much off from his numbers against righties, .059 and .158 in 19 plate appearances.

In 2014, lefties hit .347 against him.

"It's been a mission of mine for years and years and years," Ottavino said. "I was close [last year]. I didn't try anything new today that I didn't do last year. It was just my rusty tendencies came up against lefties this year after surgery. My righty stuff came back pretty quick.

"I'm trying to pick up where I left off last year with those strategies and execution. I'm finally getting there now."

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Murphy shows off power during big league stint

Rockies catcher hits two home runs and drives in five on Saturday

By Ben Weinrib / MLB.com | September 18th, 2016

DENVER -- After early-season struggles, Rockies rookie catcher Tom Murphy has become a new hitter. With mechanical adjustments to his swing, Murphy has become a major threat at the plate and a potential long-term piece for the team.

Murphy showed off his powerful swing in Saturday's win over the Padres with his first multi-homer game and a career-high five RBIs.

The 25-year-old's 2016 season didn't start until May because of a left oblique strain, and through the first two months, he only hit .208 with four walks and 53 strikeouts for -A Albuquerque. But after studying what made him a good hitter in the past, he made an adjustment and hit .442 with a .831 from July 1 on.

"I got more athletic in my lower half," Murphy said. "It added adjustability to pitches. I didn't have to sit on pitches necessarily. I could adjust my lower half. I cleaned up some bat path issues as well."

Murphy earned a promotion once rosters expanded in September and has hit .320/.370/.800 in 11 games, six of which have been starts. However, it has been difficult to earn consistent playing time with veteran Nick Hundley and fellow rookie Tony Wolters needing starts, as well.

Still, the offensive potential at the catcher position is tantalizing. Catcher is typically one of the worst-hitting positions, and the Rockies already have one of the best offensive -- often the weakest offensive position -- in Trevor Story.

"You certainly have the upper hand against the average club when you're getting production from those two spots, because it's not real common," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "We have the makings of a very good offensive team.

We've had some very good offensive players in this team's history. That's been part of our identity, and I think that'll continue with these young players that are showing up."

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Murphy still has work to do before he is ready to become an everyday catcher, but the team is clearly excited about his future. With time, he could establish himself as the team's catcher of the future.

"The demands of that position are tough, mentality and physically," Weiss said. "There's a pretty big learning curve there.

You've got to learn how to handle a staff, call a game. You're right in the middle of the game plan, and putting together a plan to attack hitters, you're a big part of that. It's much more cerebral than a lot of the other spots on the field, and it's physically demanding. That's why it takes catchers a little while. He's a very physically gifted kid. Most of the growth is out in front of him is on the mental side."

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Anderson, Rockies look to derail Cards' Wild Card hopes

By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com | September 18th, 2016

The Cardinals will relocate their playoff push to Denver on Monday, where they'll open a three-game series against a

Rockies team that continues to try to fend off its own mathematical elimination in the National League Wild Card race.

After splitting a four-game series in San Francisco, the Cardinals, with a win in Monday's series opener, could pull even with the Giants in those Wild Card standings. The Cardinals trail the Wild Card-leading Mets by two games with 13 remaining on their schedule. All three teams will be in action Monday, too, with the Giants on the road to face the Dodgers and the Mets hosting the Braves at home.

The Cardinals, who took two of three in a May home series against the Rockies, will open the series behind Carlos

Martinez, their most consistent starter all season. St. Louis has won five of Martinez's last six starts, during which the right-hander has posted a 2.48 ERA.

He'll have the challenge of extending that success at hitter-haven Coors Field. In his only previous start there, Martinez earned a victory by limiting Colorado to two runs on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings. Unless things go awry early, Martinez is in line to set a career high for innings pitched in a season with Monday's start. He's currently 2 1/3 innings shy of his 2015 total.

The Rockies will counter with lefty Tyler Anderson, who will be making his first career start against St. Louis. The rookie has won just one of his last seven starts, even though he's posted a respectable 4.28 ERA during that stretch. The

Cardinals, despite a plethora of right-handed bats, have had issues against left-handed pitching this year. They're 18-23 in games started by a southpaw.

Things to know

• Colorado's DJ LeMahieu will carry a 34-game on-base streak into the series. It's the second-longest active on-base streak in the Majors, trailing only Atlanta's Freddie Freeman, who has reached in 38 consecutive games. LeMahieu also

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finds himself in a tight NL batting title race with Washington's . LeMahieu is seeking to join Justin Morneau

(2014) and (2013) as the third Rockies hitter to win that title in the last four years.

• Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina will carry a six-game hitting streak into the series. Molina, though he has never faced

Anderson before, is slashing .302/.358/.421 against left-handers this season.

• Despite his best push to recover from a right thumb injury, Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday will not be activated from the disabled list during this series. This would have been an ideal time for Holliday to return, too, as he's hit .361/.427/.656 at Coors Field in his career.

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Chad Bettis notches 13th victory as Rockies sweep Padres at Coors Field

Mark Reynolds homers, but later leaves the game after being hit by a pitch

By PATRICK SAUNDERS | [email protected] | September 18, 2016 at 8:06 pm

The Rockies won by committee Sunday afternoon, beating the Padres 6-3 at Coors Field.

The victory certainly didn’t match the drama of Jon Gray’s record-setting 16- performance Saturday night, but it was a satisfying day capping off a three-game sweep. Starter Chad Bettis won his team-leading 13th game, the bullpen smothered the Padres and the offense took advantage of the wildness of San Diego pitchers.

But there was bad news, too. Veteran first baseman Mark Reynolds was hit by a pitch in his left hand in the fifth inning, ending his season with 13 games left.

Bettis, 13-7, sailed through his first five innings, allowing only one hit, a two-out solo homer by Adam Rosales in the second. Bettis encountered rough water in the sixth when Alexi Armarista and Jon Jay rapped out singles, and then cashed in when Wil Myers rocketed a two-run double. The rally cut Colorado’s lead to 6-3.

“He’s become a workhorse for us,” manager Walt Weiss said of Bettis. “I thought there were a couple of innings where he had to sit for a really long time. And he was out on the bases. So, I thought in the sixth, the tank started getting a little bit low.”

Bettis wasn’t as sharp as he’d been in his past two starts, but the bottom line is that Colorado has won 15 of his last 18 starts.

“I think that’s something I pride myself on, giving our team the opportunity to win,” Bettis said. “That’s all that matters.”

Chad Bettis throws a pitch against the PadresDavid Zalubowski, APColorado Rockies starting pitcher Chad Bettis delivers to San Diego Padres’ Wil Myers in the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, Sept. 18, 2016, in Denver.

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Given the lack of control by the Padres’ pitchers, the patience shown by the Rockies lineup was a virtue. Padres pitchers walked five early in the game and also hit Reynolds. Bettis drew two of those walks, the first time a Rockies pitcher had done that in three years.

In a five-run fourth inning, the Rockies sent 10 men to the plate and drew three consecutive walks off starter Jarred

Cosart. DJ LeMahieu earned an RBI for his base-loaded walk, ending Cosart’s afternoon. Cosart was replaced by right- hander Jose Dominguez, who promptly gave up a two-run single to Carlos Gonzalez.

The big blow of inning was Reynolds’ two-run home run to left, his 14th.

A trio of Rockies relievers shut the door on the Padres. Left-hander Chris Rusin struck out two in 1 ⅔ scoreless innings.

Lefty specialist Boone Logan whiffed two in the eighth inning and Adam Ottavino struck out two in the ninth.

Reynolds’ future.

When Dominguez drilled Reynolds near the pinkie on his left hand, the pain immediately told Reynolds it was bad news.

He’s scheduled to be reevaluated on Monday to see if he will need surgery. Regardless, his season, and perhaps his

Rockies career, is over. He’s in the final weeks of a one-year contract.

Reynolds, 33, already missed 20 days (16 games) when he broke the a bone in his left hand. After surgery to remove the bone, he returned quicker than anyone expected.

“It’s tough,” he said. “I had never broken a bone in my life and now I have two in one season on the same hand. … I’m going to get it better and get ready for next year.”

Reynolds expected the worst when he walked into the training room.

“It hurt, a lot,” he said. “I’ve been hit in the hand a lot of times before and I have never felt this kind of pain. Right away, when I went in for X-rays — I don’t have a radiology degree by any means — I could see it was broken.”

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Reynolds finished with a .282 average, 14 homers, 24 doubles and 53 RBIs in 118 games.

Looking ahead …

Tyler Anderson Justin Edmonds, Getty ImagesStarting pitcher Tyler Anderson #44 of the delivers to home plate during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Coors Field on August 31, 2016 in Denver.

Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez (14-8, 3.15 ERA) at Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (5-5, 3.65), 6:40 p.m. Monday, ROOT;

850 AM

The Cardinals come into Coors Field with their playoff lives on the line. They are counting on a shutdown performance from Martinez, who has been one of their most reliable pitchers. But he is coming off an uneven start, having allowed four runs on eight hits, including two home runs, in a loss to the Cubs on Wednesday.. On the plus side, he struck out nine and walked none over six innings. The Rockies don’t have a lot of history vs. the right-hander, but leadoff hitter Charlie

Blackmon is 4-for-8 with a double against him. Anderson has been nails at Coors Field in his rookie summer, going 5-1 with a 3.04 ERA in 11 starts. However, he is coming off a poor performance at Arizona last Monday, when the

Diamondbacks raked him for six runs on nine hits in 4 ⅓ innings.

Tuesday: Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright (11-9, 4.51 ERA) at Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa (8-8, 5.22), 6:40 p.m.,

ROOT

Wednesday: Cardinals RHP (1-3, 3.21) at Rockies RHP German Marquez (0-0, 5.06), 1:10 p.m., ROOT

Thursday: Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood (11-9, 4.13) at Dodgers RHP Brock Stewart (2-2, 6.00), 8:10 p.m., ROOT

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Rockies defeat Padres 6-3

The Rockies 6-3 win against the Padres finished off the weekend series sweep.

By Eric Garcia McKinley - Sep 18, 2016, 5:33p / Purple Row

The Rockies defeated the Padres 6-3 in the final game against the two clubs in the 2016 season.

The Padres started off the scoring in the second inning. Adam Rosales hit his tenth home run of the season off starter

Chad Bettis to give the Padres an early 1-0 lead.

The Rockies took the lead in the fourth. David Dahl blooped a double to left field, and Mark Reynolds drove him home with a two-run dinger. It was Reynolds’s 14th home run of the season. The Rockies weren’t done. With two outs, Tony

Wolters singled to center field, and Jarred Cosart walked the next two batters, Chad Bettis and Charlie Blackmon, to load the bases. He also walked the next batter, DJ LeMahieu, to give the Rockies a 3-1 lead. That was enough to cause

Padres’ manager Andy Green to remove Cosart and replace him with José Dominguez. Dominguez gave up a two-run single to Carlos González, whcih gave the Rockies a 5-1 lead after four. Wolters drove in another run in the fifth inning to make it 6-1.

Reynolds had to leave the game early. In the fourth, a 96 mph Dominguez fastball hit Reynolds in the hand. It’s not clear he’s injured or re-injured his hand, which he recently had surgery on. He might have been removed for precautionary reasons and because of the expanded roster.

Update: Thomas Harding tweeted after the game that the hit by pitch broke Reynolds’s left hand. He’s going to miss the remainder of the season.

The Padres closed the gap a little bit in the sixth inning, when Wil Myers drove in two runs with a double. It made it a 6-3 game. One more hit that put runners on the corners with one out was enough to push Bettis from the game. Chris Rusin entered the game to record two outs and secure the lead.

Bettis finished with 5.1 innings pitched. He allowed five hits and three runs, and he walked one while striking out three.

Bettis cruised through five innings. He really only struggled in the fifth inning. 16

Rusin stayed on for another inning, and he pitched 1.2 total scoreless innings in all. Boone Logan and Adam Ottavino also threw scoreless frames to wrap up the 6-3 win, as well as the sweep.

Next, the Rockies face the Cardinals for three games at Coors Field. The series begins tomorrow night at 6:40 MT. Tyler

Anderson will get the start for the Rockies against Carlos Martínez.

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The Rockies will soon have to make a decision about Carlos Gonzalez's future

Trade him, keep him, or let him walk? CarGo will be a free agent after 2017

By Mike Axisa - September 18, 2016 / CBS Sports

For the seventh straight season and the 19th time in the last 21 seasons, the Colorado Rockies will not being going to the playoffs this year. They're still mathematically alive, but with an eight-game deficit in the wild-card race and only 14 games to play, their fate is all but sealed.

Despite another postseason-less year, the Rockies seem to be heading in the right direction. They have a bona fide MVP candidate in Nolan Arenado, a dynamite middle duo in DJ LeMahieu and Trevor Story, the underrated Charlie

Blackmon, and some young pitching. Jon Gray stuck out 16 on Saturday and others like Tyler Anderson and look mighty promising too.

The big question the Rockies are facing now is the future of Carlos Gonzalez, their second-longest tenured player behind

Jorge De La Rosa and a middle of the lineup fixture for the better part of a decade. CarGo is hitting .298/.348/.517 (112

OPS+) with 38 doubles and 25 homers this season. It's his sixth season of 20-plus home runs in the last seven years.

The soon-to-be 31-year-old Gonzalez has only one year remaining on his contract. The Rockies owe him $20 million in

2017, and after that, he'll become a free agent for the first time in his career. Colorado has to soon figure out what to do with him going forward. They have three options.

1. Let him leave as a free agent

This is probably the least appealing option. The Rockies can make Gonzalez the qualifying offer after next season and receive a draft pick should he sign elsewhere as a free agent -- that assumes the upcoming collective bargaining agreement doesn't wipe out the qualifying offer system -- so they wouldn't be letting him walk for nothing. But still, a supplemental first-round pick isn't that great. You'd like to get more in return, if at all possible.

2. Trade him

CarGo has been a mainstay in trade rumors over the years. Every trade deadline and every offseason we hear about him possibly being on the market. Earlier this year it was reported Gonzalez, who does not have any no-trade protection, 18

would be open to a deal, though that was later shot down. With the Rockies trading Troy Tulowitzki last year, it stands to reason they wouldn't hesitate to deal CarGo either.

It's difficult to gauge Gonzalez's trade value the same way it was difficult to gauge Tulowitzki. Like Tulowitzki, CarGo is very productive but has had some injury problems over the years, plus there are questions about exactly how much he'll hit outside Coors Field. Check it out:

AVG/OBP/SLG 2B HR PA

2014-16 at home 715 .315/.367/.609 47 47

2014-16 on road 751 .237/.290/.417 31 29

Pretty huge difference there, huh? I don't think you can point to Gonzalez's road numbers and assume that's the real him.

It's not that simple. After all, there are three big-time pitcher's parks in the NL West that he visits frequently, though there's no doubt his offensive numbers have been inflated by the thin mountain air over the last few years.

The real CarGo is somewhere in the middle of his home and road numbers and that mystery is going to scare teams. We have no idea how much he will produce in a full season at sea level. That's going to come into play during trade talks.

Even if clubs are supremely confident Gonzalez will hit outside Coors Field, they're going to use his home/road splits to try to get the Rockies to drop their asking price.

3. Sign him to an extension

Because of his Coors Field numbers and the fact he's a fan favorite in Colorado, it's entirely possible Gonzalez is most valuable to the Rockies as a player on their roster than as a trade chip. Signing him to an extension beyond 2017 is certainly worth exploring. It costs nothing to listen, after all.

For what it's worth, in a recent mailbag column Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post said he asked CarGo about the possibility of signing an extension with the Rockies. Here's what Saunders had to say:

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Tony, I asked CarGo that question just last week in the wake of reports that the Rockies had reached out to

Gonzalez to begin extension talks. CarGo denied it and told me he still would like to look as his options as a free

agent.

Having said that, I think Gonzalez genuinely likes playing in Colorado and he's excited about the young talent the

Rockies have on their roster. Could that persuade him to re-up with Colorado? Yes. But it also would not shock

me to see him get traded this winter.

Gonzalez already took one team friendly long-term contract to remain with the Rockies, so I don't begrudge him for wanting to see what free agency has to offer. Next offseason will almost certainly be his last chance to score a big contract, after all.

The upcoming free agent class is pretty deep with outfielders and that will help set the market for Gonzalez next offseason. Jose Bautista and Yoenis Cespedes are the big names this winter, plus others like , Michael

Saunders, , Carlos Beltran, and Mark Trumbo will be on the market as well. Those players will give us (and the Rockies) and idea of what it'll cost to keep CarGo long-term.

For the first time in a long time, the Rockies look like a team on the rise. They have a legitimate franchise cornerstone player in Arenado, some promising young pitching, and they're strong up the middle with LeMahieu, Story, and Blackmon.

The ingredients for the next postseason-bound Rockies team are in place.

Will CarGo be part of that next contending Rockies team? It's very possible. Keeping him on a long-term contract could be the best move going forward if the trade offers aren't enticing. Gonzalez is a legitimate middle-of-the-order thumper who is not yet at the age where you worry about a drastic age-related decline. The clock is ticking though. His impending free agency means the Rockies will have to make a decision about his future sooner rather than later.

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Doing What it Takes to Keep Players Healthy

September 15, 2016 - Alissa Noe / The Hardball Times

Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock wanted his right elbow to heal properly this time.

After surgery for the first joint fracture — which cost him the entire 2010 season — ended with the screw breaking off,

Pollock said his bone never fully healed. He was able to put the injury out of his head for a few years, but a freak accident at home plate two days before this season sent him back to the operating room.

The second time around, he embraced sports medicine methods that were ancient (cupping, needling), high tech

(hyperbaric chamber) and even, well, out of this world.

“I had a big spaceship at my house that they installed that I sat in for hours at a time,” Pollock said with a bemused chuckle. Pollock’s trip through time and space helped him return in just five months.

With the daily wear and tear of , the 162-game regular season and (with luck) postseason, it’s almost a miracle players can stay healthy. That miracle is called modern sports medicine, and the saints of the trade are the trainers that employ some of the simplest and strangest methods to keep the bats swinging.

Without the trainers of any team, injuries would be more frequent and players would burn out faster. And the sports medicine that they practice and administer is always changing, always advancing.

Colorado Rockies head athletic trainer Keith Dugger, who has been working with athletes in the majors for 18 years, said that many of the treatments his staff employs circulate around manual therapy and massage. They have a wide range of innovative treatments at their disposal, and each treatment is interconnected.

“There’s a huge realm,” Dugger said. “Machines are called modalities, so there’s ultrasounds, there’s different kinds of electronic [stimulation], there’s lasers. We consider ourselves manual therapists. We do a lot of massage, soft tissue work, tissue mobility, pressure point, acupuncture before we hook up any player to any type of machine setting.”

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Head athletic trainer Ken Crenshaw, in his 11th year with the D-backs, also attested to the benefits of using manipulative therapy while praising the value of the ample medical resources available. “I can’t point to one machine or, I guess, one thing that we do that stands alone,” Crenshaw said. “It’s all kind of cohesive and works with an integrated approach.”

The job of these trainers encompasses much more than simply treating the injuries of their athletes. They must also educate the players on how to better care for themselves and keep them mentally and emotionally in check when injuries go awry.

“The trainers are experts at what they do, just like we’re experts at playing baseball,” Rockies Nolan

Arenado said. “You got to trust them and trust that they know what they’re doing to help you get back.”

Oddities Outside of the Typical Physical Therapy

So what is the spaceship, and how did it end up in Pollock’s house?

After doctors repaired his elbow with a new screw this season, Pollock decided he wanted full healing to reduce the risk of re-injury. He turned to his team’s training staff, who helped him install the other-worldly device in his house for more around-the-clock treatment.

The so-called “spaceship” is actually a magnesphere. Much like a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, a chair wedged between two giant, ring-like magnets creates a force field around the patient that alters the molecular structure of the injury.

Pollock also underwent treatments in a hyperbaric chamber — a glass tube into which oxygen is pumped for a full hour.

Along with intensified air pressure, the oxygen being pumped into the lungs encourages the body to heal faster and circulates more blood to the affected area.

“We have a partial pressure hyperbaric unit that we have at the field,” Crenshaw said. “You can get partial pressure and partial oxygen in there. It’s not like the medical grade one, like if you’re going to a burn treatment center, you’re going to get 100 percent oxygen.” 22

Pollock swears by all the treatments, even if he can’t explain them. “When we started doing the X-rays and the CT scans,

I mean, it was pretty obvious that things were working. I don’t know exactly what it was,” Pollock said.

Before 2016, the Rockies’ Arenado suffered through pneumonia, a broken finger and a bruised rib in the first three years of his career. By the time this September came, Arenado hadn’t missed a single 2016 game due to injury. He often finds himself using NormaTec therapy, where full-leg length massage boots implement pulsing compression that mimics the leg’s muscle pumps, shortening the recovery time after a strenuous workout.

Rockies closer Adam Ottavino, who returned from a 14-month hiatus earlier in the 2016 season, enjoys simpler treatments. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in May of 2015, the 30-year-old had an uphill battle to get himself back in tip-top shape.

“They start doing therapy with you right away,” Ottavino said. “I think they took the cast off my arm after like three days, four days, and then we started moving it. I got the stitches out a little bit after that, started doing everything that you got to do to get it back.”

During the first 10 months of his recovery, Ottavino said, the trainers took it easy on him, focusing mostly on soft-tissue work and hot and cold tub contrasting. During the last four months, they ramped up the intensity and explored more options, such as cupping and needling.

“I’m a big believer in both. I’ve been doing acupuncture since I was young, and I’ve always had positive results with it,”

Ottavino said. “Cupping is something that’s relatively new in my treatment, but I find it to be very effective.”

Player- vs. Trainer-Driven Treatments

Not all treatments are administered by the athletic trainers of these teams, or at least that’s the case for the Rockies.

Dugger, who oversees the treatment, said that many of his players in recent years have been taking agency over their own therapies and educating themselves about their bodily health. “I would say these new players in the last 10 years are very proactive,” Dugger said. “They’ve learned to take care of themselves — their eating habits, sleeping habits, tobacco,

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alcohol. They’re taking care of those factors that actually affect them. Rolling out, light stretch, soft tissue work. They understand their bodies a lot better than players did 10 years ago.”

None of that would be possible without the education that the trainers provide, even at the most basic level. Dugger said that first and foremost, he has to teach players the difference between soreness and pain, and from there he addresses any other factors that may affect their day-to-day well-being.

Once that base understanding has been acknowledged, the Rockies training staff encourages the players to explore their own avenues of treatment. Over the years, Arenado, a 25-year-old All-Star, has battled a broken finger, a chest injury and back pain, which he said he still deals with some this season. Yet he’s been healthy this year, at least in part because he takes such good care of himself.

“I’m always doing stuff — always ice pack, doing NormaTec, little things like I get massages all the time,” Arenado said.

“But those are just things I have to do because it’s tough to play in altitude (at 5,280 feet), and then the fact of the matter is that we play for six months — 162 games, which is a lot of games — and it’s a wear and tear on your body.

“It’s amazing how you feel in April compared to how you feel now, and it just feels like you’re losing muscle almost because you get so tired and drained. You just try to maintain as much as you can, eat right, drink a lot of water and just do what you can to protect your muscles and protect yourself.”

Rockies catcher Nick Hundley, 32, stays healthy by using the cupping method to keep his muscles loose and ready for action. In cupping, large suction cups are applied to the skin above tight muscles, pull the skin up about an inch, and are released after a few minutes. It helps the two layers of tissue in the muscles glide more easily, releasing any tension that was present before. Cupping, as you may recall, had a bit of a moment during the Olympics, when the whole world saw the cupping marks on the body of American swimmer Michael Phelps.

“It’s the best, to go from the wincing, the tightness, to instant relief. I feel like it’s one of those things where you can feel how quickly your muscles loosen, and how good it is to feel once it comes off,” Hundley said. “If I can physically feel the same every day, it’s a huge mental and physical advantage that I can take out on the field. I feel like cupping helps me do that.”

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Hundley was introduced to cupping six years ago and now believes in it so much that he has anyone and everyone around him administer the treatment as necessary, whether it’s teammate Tyler Anderson or his wife.

“All I know is my first four years in the league, I was on the DL three times, and the last six I’ve been a lot healthier. I’ve started cupping and that’s been a major factor in keeping me healthy,” Hundley said. “It’s one of those things I’ll do the rest of my professional life.”

As for the Diamondbacks, Crenshaw said he entrusts nearly all of his player treatments to his staff. “We have a really good integrated system and a team of practitioners that I think are as good as anyone, so we most of the time do it for them,” Crenshaw said. “It just works better, I think, personally. Sometimes some guys pop in and do their own stuff, but it’s pretty rare.”

Keeping the Right Mentality

Dugger and Crenshaw also have to keep their players happy and motivated during the recovery from serious injuries.

That’s not always an easy task. “That’s probably one of the biggest things that I see, is when you get a player that’s missing a significant amount of time, you have to make sure mentally, he’s progressing,” Crenshaw said. “Because if they’re not thinking they’re progressing, that only sets them back from a healing standpoint.”

Dugger agreed, noting that most of the mental therapy becomes necessary when a player undergoes surgery and has to miss much if not all of the season. “The treatment starts before the surgery,” Dugger said. “You’re going to tell them, ‘Hey, you’re going to get depressed, you’re going to feel like you’re the third wheel. You’re going to have these flat-line plateaus during the rehab.’ So you kind of get that out of the way when you get to that point.”

Rockies Trevor Story knows that pain all too well. At the end of July, during his record-setting rookie season with Colorado, he tore a ligament in his left thumb sliding into second base and later diving for a ground ball in the same game.

By early this month, Story still had not reached the treatment part of his recovery. His thumb had been in a brace for four weeks with a week or two left until his therapy was supposed to begin. The lack of activity began to mess with his head. 25

“At first, it was tough,” Story said. “It’s still tough for sure, but when you’re missing time out there with your guys—and it was during a really hot streak of ours too—it was really tough on me those first couple weeks. It just gets better the more I go.”

Dugger and his staff try to find ways to keep the injured players involved with the team and keep them focused on their rehab, which often means setting incremental goals for them. “You have to make sure that you’ve set mental goals for these players along with the physical goals and the therapy goals that you have for these guys,” Dugger said.

Story can attest to how much that’s helped him cope with the injury. “Just the big thing he told me to do was to stay involved, just be a part of the team, be the best teammate you can be, find ways to help us out,” he said. “That’s what I’ve done, just try to watch the game and see if I can pick up on little things that our opponent’s doing or something that I’m doing. Just really staying involved and staying attentive to the game.” Story admitted that until he returns, he doesn’t think he’ll feel like a player again. Luckily for him, he has a staff of highly-trained professionals backing him up every step of the way.

As for the real impact these trainers make in keeping these athletes healthy, Arenado said it best. “Huge difference,”

Arenado said. “Without them, we’d probably be in a lot of trouble, because we wouldn’t know what we needed to do to get loose. But they have a lot of insight, especially ‘Doogie,’ who’s been around the game for such a long time.”

“It’s nice to have a guy like that give you the good intel, because I don’t know. I just go play and I just try to do the best I can with that. But he knows how to help me get my body ready.”

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Purple Monday: Categorizing the Colorado Rockies Bullpen

By Tim Engquist - September 19, 2016 / Rox Pile

Happy Purple Monday Rockies fans! The major league baseball season is quickly coming to an end as there are less than two weeks of games left. The Colorado Rockies won’t make the playoffs but still have a chance to finish .500 if they can go 9-4 in their final 13 games. Regardless, they will finish much better than last year as I delved more into last week.

So this week, I am going to focus on one of the big question marks facing the Rockies next year … the bullpen. It has been the biggest problem this year and I am going to look at just how they have performed.

To make things easy, I’m going to divide the arms the Rockies have used in the bullpen this year based on ERA. The

Rockies current ERA as a team is 5.09, which is only .01 better than the Diamondbacks’ mark of 5.10, which is worst in the league. The Nationals are on the other side of the spectrum with a team ERA of just 3.21. Our benchmark will be halfway between these two, an ERA of 4.155. Obviously, bullpen ERAs are always somewhat unusual secondary to a relatively small sample size compared to starters.

The Good

Let’s start things off on the right foot and look at the Rockies’ relievers who have been pretty good this year, or those with an ERA under that 4.155 mark. Unfortunately, this list will be short compared to the ones we will get to later.

Jordan Lyles: ERA 3.79

After not pitching well at all from the rotation in 2016, Lyles moved to the bullpen in mid-June. He has progressed from long reliever type duty to being inserted in higher leverage situations. In my opinion, he has pitched well enough to be “a lock” in the plans for the 2017 bullpen.

Adam Ottavino: ERA 2.35

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Adam made his way back from Tommy John surgery in 2015 and has not disappointed. He got his fifth save of the season yesterday after moving to the closer position secondary to Carlos Estevez’s struggles. He’s averaging over a strike out per inning (10.2 K/9) and has a tiny WHIP of 0.957. His slider is one of the nastiest pitches in the majors if you ask me.

Boone Logan: ERA 2.91

Logan has been a huge contributor for the Rockies after two rough seasons to start his time with the Rockies. He has progressed from a LOOGY to a full inning type guy. His WHIP is lowest on the team at .900. It will be interesting to see if the Rockies can agree on a contract to bring him back next year.

Chris Rusin: ERA 3.89

Rusin has had some starts this year but has also provided very valuable innings out of the bullpen. He hasn’t gotten much of a chance in high-pressure innings, and I’m not sure he should as he pitches to a lot of contract. He could, however, be valuable for the Rockies next year as a long reliever and maybe thrown into a spot start when needed.

The Bad

The Rockies have a lot of guys pitching above the league bullpen average, while not terrible they certainly haven’t helped the team very much.

Carlos Estevez: ERA 5.12

Carlos is one of the most exciting new guys in the bullpen as he was called up and worked his way into the closer’s role.

He racked up 11 saves but eventually struggled enough with control that he was removed in favor of Ottavino. He still has the stuff to be a closer with a triple digit fastball.

Jake McGee: ERA 4.91

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McGee also spent some time as closer this year, earning 15 saves. He has been up and down but all in all not able to miss enough bats (7.8 K/9) to stay in that position. I am hoping he can have resurgence in 2017 as he has improved in the second half. He is striking out a couple more guys while also allowing a lower BA and SLUG against him.

Justin Miller: ERA 4.99

Miller has spent time in AAA and with the Rockies and hasn’t been particularly good in 36 games with the big club. He is a guy that could lose his roster spot sometime in the offseason as his WHIP is pretty high at 1.613 and noticeably worse than it was in 2015.

Miguel Castro: ERA 6.14

Castro came over with Jeff Hoffman in the Troy Tulowitzki deal. He was quite good early in the year (ERA of 1.50) before hitting the DL with shoulder inflammation. He wasn’t able to find the same level of production after and spent most of the year in AAA.

Scott Oberg: ERA 5.19

Oberg is on the 60-day DL with a blood clot issue in his arm, which is a very scary thing to be dealing with. He actually was pretty good for the Rockies this year. In a seven-game stretch in late July and early August he has an ERA of 1.59 over 6+ innings. Maybe this flash of effectiveness will earn him a spot next year. He’s a guy I always root for.

The Ugly:

This group includes some guys who are a let down based on offseason expectations and just in terms of not pitching very well.

Christian Bergman: ERA 8.10

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Bergman was effective in a long reliever role in 2015, but has not found the same success in 2016. Rusin effectively replaced him this year, which I think is the right choice moving forward.

Matt Carasiti: ERA 13.50

Obviously, his numbers are victim of small sample size as Carasiti has only appeared in 13 games this year. When he has he hasn’t been very good, his WHIP is 3.094. If he can limit the walks he has shown he has the stuff to strike batters out and could be effective in the future.

Jason Motte: ERA: 5.57

Motte is someone the Rockies expected a lot from signing him in the offseason to a two-year deal. He has been a disappointment because he hasn’t been able to pitch very much secondary to injury and hasn’t been that good when he has been on the mound. His WHIP is the second-highest it has been in his career and he is allowing a home run essentially every three innings.

Chad Qualls: ERA 5.23

Qualls is a similar situation to Motte as he was signed to be an anchor in the bullpen, which he certainly has not been. His

WHIP is above 1.5 with a K/BB ratio of 2.44. He’s also missed a lot of time due to injury.

If Jon Gray could pitch everyday maybe the Rockies wouldn’t even need a bullpen. This was on display Saturday night with the Gray Wolf howling at Coors Field striking out 16 in a complete game shutout. It was the highlight of a solid sweep of the Padres.

Unfortunately, the bullpen is definitely an area the Rockies will have to improve on in the offseason. Free agency, a trade and prospects in the minors are all options. It will provide some good discussion for offseason no matter what. But for now, there are two more weeks of baseball to enjoy. The Rockies will face off with a St. Louis Cardinals team desperate for wins to gain ground in the wild card race.

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Colorado Rockies Injury News: Mark Reynolds Out for Season

By Kevin Henry – September 18, 2016 / Rox Pile

Once again, it looks like the Colorado Rockies will be facing a revolving door at first base. This realization comes after

Mark Reynolds broke a bone in his left hand on Sunday afternoon and will miss the rest of the 2016 season.

Reynolds was hit by a Jose Dominguez fastball in the bottom of the fifth inning of Sunday’s 6-3 win over the San Diego

Padres. Reynolds was 1-for-2 on the day, hitting his 14th homer of the season off Jarred Cosart in the fourth inning.

The veteran first baseman had returned quickly from a broken hamate bone he suffered in early August. He went on the disabled list on August 12 and returned to action on August 31. In September, he batted .286.

He finishes the season with a .282 average, 14 homers and 53 RBI. The batting average is especially impressive, considering Reynolds is a .234 lifetime hitter. He also posted an OPS of .806 this season, above his lifetime average of

.778.

More than anything, Colorado will miss his defensive presence at first base. Reynolds solidified the position from a defensive standpoint, even surprising Colorado manager Walt Weiss with his defensive prowess early in the season.

Read what Weiss said here.

With Reynolds out for the season, it’s expected that Gerardo Parra will continue to fill the void at first base. Parra entered the game at first after Reynolds exited on Sunday.

Several members of the Rockies have played first base this season, including Parra, Daniel Descalso and Stephen

Cardullo.

What happens with Reynolds and at first base for the Rockies in the offseason will be an interesting development to watch. The 33-year-old Reynolds was signed to a one-year contract in the offseason. With his solid season at the plate and in the field, it’s likely that Colorado will at least chase him during the offseason signing process.

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Five-run fourth powers Rockies to series sweep of Padres

By Casey Light - September 18, 2016 / Mile High Sports

When Chad Bettis pitches, the Rockies have a good chance of winning. After a win on Sunday to complete a series sweep of the San Diego Padres, Colorado improved to 15-3 over the right-hander’s last 18 starts. With the win, Bettis improved to 13-7 on the season.

The Rockies scored five runs in the fourth inning, including a two-run home run by Mark Reynolds and a two-RBI single by

Carlos Gonzalez. That would be all the run support Bettis and the bullpen would need. Chris Rusin relieved Bettis after

5.1 innings to lead the way for Boone Logan and Adam Ottavino. The trio allowed no runs and just one hit with seven strikeouts to deliver the win for Bettis.

Colorado begins its second-to-last home series on Monday, a three-game set with St. Louis.

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Colorado Rockies sweep San Diego Padres after 6-3 win

By Drew Creasman on September 18, 2016 / BSN Denver

DENVER — After one of the worst series’ of the year for the Colorado Rockies in Arizona, the boys in purple returned home to emphatically swept the San Diego Padres at Coors Field.

A 6-3 victory finished off the first series win against a sub .500 team since late July against the .

There wasn’t much early action apart from an Adam Rosales solo home run in the second in which he sprinted around the bases. But both starting pitchers were cruising early until a huge fourth inning for the Rockies.

It all started — as it so often does at this ballpark — with a bloop hit that ended up as a double off the bat of David Dahl. A batter later, Mark Reynolds hit his 14th home run of the season see-sawing the Rockies from down one to up one but his team was not finished.

After Daniel Descalso flew out for the second out of the inning, things got crazy. Tony Wolters singled in what seemed at the time like a good job of turning the lineup over. But Padres pitcher Jarred Cosart — who came into the inning in complete control having given up only two hits — became wild. He walked the opposing pitcher, Chad Bettis, with two outs, a cardinal sin in the game of baseball. But it was clear that for whatever reason, Cosart just lost all command when he walked Charlie Blackmon and then DJ LeMahieu to bring in a run.

Jose Dominguez then replaced Cosart but also began with three straight out of the zone (with the bases still loaded) to

Carlos Gonzalez before he was forced to throw a fastball over the plate which CarGo lined into center field, scoring two more. Oddly enough, the big inning from the Rockies began and ended with an out from Nolan Arenado, but the damage had been done and the Rockies led 5-1 after coming into the fourth down 1-0.

It was the kind of inning the Rockies have been on the other side of so many timed this season but finally found themselves the beneficiaries of.

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There was a scary moment for Colorado in the bottom of the fifth when, with one out, Reynolds was hit by a pitch seemingly near the same place on his hand that cost him 20 days on the DL last month. He was replaced by Gerardo

Parra who came around to score on Wolter’s second base hit of the afternoon.

We will have an update on Reynolds as soon as that information becomes available.

The Padres got a pair of runs back in the sixth on a double from Wil Myers, meaning that all the damage on the day against Bettis came on two swings. It would end his day, however, and Chris Rusin came in to shut the door on the inning.

Rusin pitched a clean seventh, Boone Logan struck out the side in the eighth and Adam Ottavino struck out a pair on the way to his fifth save of the season.

By the Numbers

34 – With his single in the third inning, DJ LeMahieu extended his on-base streak to 34 games. It is the second longest active streak in MLB this season.

74 – At 74 RBI, Charlie Blackmon currently stands one away from the franchise record for RBI by a leadoff hitter.

What’s Next

Tomorrow, the Rockies welcome in the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game set. Tyler Anderson takes on Carlos Martinez in Game 1. First pitch at 6:40.

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Mark Reynolds out for season with broken hand

By Drew Creasman on September 18, 2016 / BSN Denver

DENVER — Colorado Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds was struck in the hand by a pitch in the bottom of the fifth inning in Sunday afternoon’s contest against the San Diego Padres and has been diagnosed with a broken hand. He will miss the rest of the 2016 season.

This is especially tough news for Reynolds after coming back early from hamate bone surgery also after being hit in the hand by a pitch. Reynolds told BSN Denver after he returned that he was still experiencing pain and might not have returned if circumstances were different but he was able to step back in and play excellent defense in addition to hitting a few more key home runs.

The 33-year-old Reynolds finishes the season with a very solid slashline of .281/.354/.442 with 14 home runs in addition to playing outstanding first base defense. Reynolds is in the final year of his contract and with the lack of options for right- handers at the spot, it seems likely the Rockies will be among many teams to send him an offer.

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Reynolds homers, Rockies beat Padres 6-3 to sweep series

By MICHAEL KELLY - Sep. 18, 2016 7:43 PM EDT / Associated Press

DENVER (AP) — Mark Reynolds homered in the fourth inning, Chad Bettis pitched into the sixth and the Colorado

Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 6-3 on Sunday.

Tony Wolters had three hits for the Rockies, who swept the heavy-hearted Padres.

San Diego played a day after Yangervis Solarte lost his wife, Yuliett, following a battle with cancer. The third baseman was with his family Sunday and was on the minds of everyone in the organization.

Adam Rosales paid tribute to his teammate with a jump and a clap at home plate after his homer in the second inning, mimicking Solarte's home run celebration.

"Everybody's heart breaks for him right now," Padres manager Andy Green said. "He's had infectious energy all year long, and when you can consider the circumstances of his life, it's hard to fathom. So from our perspective, 'Hey, whenever you want to be back, you can come back. If you don't want to be back in the last two weeks, you don't have to be back.'

"But we'll continue to talk to him, offer our love and support, anything we can possibly do for his family from a logistics perspective."

Before the game the Rockies held a moment of silence for Yuliett.

Bettis (13-7) allowed three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He won for the third time in his last four starts and helped himself with two walks and an RBI.

Adam Ottavino pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Padres starter Jarred Cosart (0-4) ran into trouble in the fourth when the Rockies took control. Reynolds hit a two-run homer and the Rockies loaded the bases with a single and two walks. 36

Jose Dominguez walked in another run before giving up a two-run single to Carlos Gonzalez to make it 5-1.

Wil Myers' double in the sixth cut the lead to 6-3 after Bettis' bases-loaded walk gave Colorado a five-run cushion.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Padres: C Derek Norris didn't start because of a jammed finger but was available off the bench.

Rockies: Reynolds left the game after getting hit on the left wrist by a pitch in the fifth inning. Reynolds missed half of

August with a fractured left wrist that required surgery.

UP NEXT

Padres: LHP Clayton Richard (2-2, 1.51 ERA) makes his seventh start for San Diego when the Padres open a three- game home series with Arizona.

Rockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (5-5, 3.65) opens a three-game series against St. Louis on Monday. The rookie is 5-1 with a 3.04 ERA in 11 starts at Coors Field.

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