Following their 7-6 Opening Day loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies regroup with Jorge De La Rosa on the mount for Saturday's contest. The Diamondbacks will have young Daniel Hudson toe the rubber in order to take this series from the Rockies.
De La Rosa, who turns 30 on April 5, missed two months of the 2010 season due to injury and then looked ready to jump ship from Colorado and head elsewhere in the free agent market. However, Colorado came out on top despite most reports stating De La Rosa would head elsewhere. He signed a two-year deal with the Rockies that includes a player option for 2013 (which, if exercised, gives the Rockies a team option for 2014). He made only 20 starts in 2010, seeing a decrease in hits allowed per nine innings (8.4 to 7.8), but he still walked around four batters per nine frames. While he only struck out 8.4 batters every nine innings, De La Rosa did increase his ground ball percentage to 52.3 percent, whereas he hovered around the mid-40s during his other two years with the Rockies.
Hudson, meanwhile, made a relatively quick rise to the majors after being drafted in 2008 by the Chicago White Sox. He received a cup of coffee with the White Sox in September 2009 and made three starts in July 20 for them before he was sent to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a trade for Edwin Jackson. Those three starts were not indicative of what he would do for the Diamondbacks over his next 11 starts. He went 7-1 with a 1.69 ERA and had a WHIP of 0.841. He was aided in this with a .217 Batting Average on Balls in Play (BABIP) and an 83 percent strand rate (note, though that his strand rate is for the entire season whereas his BABIP is just with the D'Backs). A normal BABIP is around .300, so Hudson should be in for a regression this season. One of his 11 starts last season for the D'Backs included seven innings of scoreless ball and nine strikeouts. Once Hudson left, the Rockies scored the only run of the game off of Aaron Heilman.
What to look out for in the Rockies' lineup: Jose Lopez had a nice debut for the Rockies with his home run and a spectacular defensive play to start a double play. He should draw another start at second. Catcher Chris Iannetta played all 11 innings of yesterday's game, but with this one a night contest, Jose Morales should still be on the bench. Will Ian Stewart or Ty Wigginton draw the start at third? Wigginton played Opening Day and Stewart pinch hit, but we'll need to see how long until Stewart starts again.
Game time is 6:10 p.m. MT and ROOT Sports will have the broadcast.