The Colorado Rockies dropped a 7-1 decision to their NL West rival Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon. However, the final score belies what happened at the start of the game. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched for the first time since he suffered an infected right thumb cuticle last week. According to the Denver Post's Troy Renck, scouts clocked Jimenez as high as 98 m.p.h. on their guns this afternoon. Jimenez pitched three scoreless innings and allowed one hit and one walk during that time.
Greg Reynolds wasn't treated that kindly--at least not in the seventh inning. Reynolds had little trouble in the previous three innings, but his fourth frame went awry. It started with a leadoff double and committed a fielding error on a sacrifice bunt, leaving men on the corners with no outs. Prospect Jerry Sands entered the batter's box and before too long he belted a three-run homer to left field to break the 1-1 tie. (Sands hit 35 homers over two minor-league levels in 2010 and could be with the Dodgers later this year.) Reynolds allowed another run before Casey Weathers replaced him. Weathers allowed a hit and no runs in recording the last two outs.
The Rockies scored their only run of the game in the third inning. Catcher Jose Morales led off the inning with a double, which was followed by a Hector Gomez RBI double. Gomez had the only multi-hit game for the Rockies. A combination of Ted Lilly, Mike MacDougal, Blake Hawksworth, Tim Redding and Kenley Jansen held the Rockies to one run on six hits. Rockies outfield prospect Tim Wheeler, according to Jerry Crasnick, mashed a double off of Jansen in the bottom of the ninth.
The Rockies (5-4) play split-squad tomorrow with an away game against the White Sox and a home game against the Cubs. Jim Armstrong has a full breakdown of the pitchers tomorrow, but Jorge De La Rosa throws against the Cubs and Felipe Paulino against the White Sox.