Rockies Adjust Rotation As D-Backs Come To Town

DENVER (The Sports Xchange) - The Colorado Rockies adjusted their rotation ahead of their longest homestand of the season and will start right-hander German Marquez against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday.

He had been scheduled to oppose the Diamondbacks on Saturday, but left-hander Tyler Anderson will be pushed back one day from his scheduled Friday start. Anderson had been following left-hander Kyle Freeland in the rotation.

Marquez, who works on regular rest Friday, will slot between Freeland and Anderson.

Zack Greinke (2-2, 3.19 ERA) will start Friday for the Diamondbacks. He's 7-4, 4.11 in 21 games (20 starts) against the Rockies and 2-0, 4.26 in eight games (seven starts) at Coors Field.

PITCHING MATCHUP: Diamondbacks Greinke vs. Rockies Marquez

His last outing was against the Rockies at Chase Field on Saturday. Greinke allowed three solo homers, seven hits and three runs in six innings and wasn't involved in the decision when Arizona lost 7-6.

Marquez (0-1, 7.20) gave up eight runs in four innings against Washington on April 25 in his 2016 debut. He wasn't involved in the decision when he pitched six scoreless innings Sunday at Arizona, allowing six hits and one walk with eight strikeouts. Marquez is 0-0, 0.00 in two career games against the Diamondbacks, totaling eight scoreless innings.

In addition to splitting the two left-handers in their rotation, the Rockies accomplish something else by moving Marquez up one day. Right-hander Tyler Chatwood, whose style is similar to Marquez, will follow Anderson.

The Rockies also want to give the struggling Anderson one more day of rest. He has yet to pitch six innings in any of his six starts and has allowed nine homers in 30 1/3 innings while compiling a 7.71 ERA after yielding 12 homers in 114 1/3 innings last season.

The three-game series with Arizona launches a 10-game homestand with no scheduled off days and includes three games with the Chicago Cubs and four with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Colorado took two of three from Arizona last weekend at Chase Field, losing the series finale 2-0 in 13 innings on Sunday on ex-Rockie Daniel Descalso's two-run homer off Jordan Lyles.

Colorado first baseman/outfielder Ian Desmond make his Coors Field debut in a Rockies uniform. Desmond suffered a broken left hand when he was hit with a pitch in spring training March 12 and began the season on the disabled list.

He played in two games Friday and Saturday in extended spring training and was reinstated Sunday at Arizona. Desmond hit two homers Wednesday night in San Diego, and in his first four games with the Rockies is 7-for-19 with two homers, three RBIs and four runs scored.

"I believe in myself. I believe in what I do. I believe in my process," Desmond said to MLB.com. "And when I'm out there, I'm trying to compete with everything I've got. To expect two home runs? Maybe not. But to expect a good, competitive performance? Yeah, I expect that every single night."

The Rockies (18-11) finished a 4-2 trip to Arizona and San Diego, twice winning by one run to improve their record in one-run games to a major league best 9-0.

The Diamondbacks (17-13) are 12-5 at Chase Field and 5-8 on the road after losing two of three in Washington to the powerful Nationals. After winning the series opener 6-3, the Diamondbacks lost 2-1 and 4-2.

After Thursday's loss, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo told MLB.com: "I'm going to focus on the positives. We came in here and played some tough baseball. ... We have to go out and earn things. Even though we lost two out of three, I think we earned a little bit of respect."