Nobody was quite sure what to expect when Jhoulys Chacin came back for the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday after missing several months of time due to injury. Chacin had been almost of ace quality for the Rockies in 2011, but his start to 2012 had been awful, with an 0-3 record and several bad meltdowns.
Fortunately, he has been mostly solid through the first four innings of his game against the Mets. After a clean first three innings, he gave up two hits and a home run in the fourth, but that has been the only blemish on his record so far, as he has struck out two, walked none and allowed no other hits in the game so far. The Mets are currently up 1-0 on that home run.
Most importantly, he has been throwing the pitches for strikes -- 33 of his 45 pitches have hit the strike zone or have been swung on and missed. One of the biggest concerns at the start of the year for Chacin was his high number of walks and, at times, bad pitch placement.
Chacin will likely have a pitch count of about 75 in his first game back, so he will have a couple more innings to get back in the swing of things. Colorado's offense needs to solve Chris Young if they want to get back in the game though, as Young has been perfect through five.
Stay tuned to SB Nation Denver for more on the Rockies' series with the Mets, and make sure to visit Purple Row.