The Colorado Rockies will need a starter Clayton Mortensen to pitch late into Saturday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers after Friday's 14-inning loss. The Rockies used all seven of their relievers, five of them pitching one full inning each (Belisle, two). Rafael Betancourt, Huston Street and Felipe Paulino each blew save opportunities, the latter two in extra innings.
Mortensen did well enough in his last start on May 16. It was a victory over the San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum. Mortensen went six full innings and allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks. Three of the four runs scored on two home runs. In his two starts he's reached six inning of work as well in his first relief appearance of the season. Being economical with his pitch count will go a long way to saving the bullpen.
In three May starts, the Brewers' Shaun Marcum is 2-0 with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.050 WHIP. He has 20 strikeouts in 20 innings pitched. The middle game of that stretch, though, was a bit of a rough outing against the San Diego Padres. While picking up eight strikeouts, he did allowed five runs in six innings on nine hits. This will be his first career start against the Rockies, having a one-inning relief appearance back in 2006 when he was with the Blue Jays. In meaningless numbers, Marcum gave up two runs on two hits and two walks.
First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. MT. Tune into ROOT Sports for all the action.
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