Black not eager to let players pitch in

Though the Rockies haven’t drawn from their lineup for bullpen relief in blowouts this season, as many majorleague teams have in an effort to save legitimate pitchers, they’ve witnessed the trend firsthand.

In Colorado’s 19-2 blowout of the Diamondbacks at Coors Field on July 11, Arizona went down 12-0 after three innings and proceeded to use infielder Daniel Descalso and catcher Alex Avila to pitch the final five frames of the game.

Descalso’s and Avila’s performances are just a couple of the 50 pitching appearances by 40 position players so far in 2018, a count that’s already smashed the previous appearance record of 32 set last year and is showing no signs of slowing up.

However, save for dire circumstances, Colorado manager Bud Black said his club won’t be getting in on the movement.

“You hope teams are only doing it only out of necessity to save arms,” Black said. “For us, we’ve got plenty of arms out there, so I will always try to use actual pitchers until it doesn’t make sense.”

But in a game that has an ironic tendency to not make sense on any given night, just who would be the Rockies’ best bet to trade in their outfielder, infielder or catcher’s glove for a pitcher’s mitt?

Three names popped up around the Colorado clubhouse, with Carlos Gonzalez the most mentioned by Black and Rockies players. The outfielder said he’s more than willing to take the mound — “I’ll pitch even if the game is tight” — and that he was gunned at 97 mph about five years ago at spring training.

“I’ll take 94 now — that’s not bad,” Gonzalez said. “I’d get up there and come after guys.”

Shortstop Trevor Story, who threw 96 mph as a high school pitcher in Irving, Texas, was also plugged by several of his teammates but responded to the flame-throwing flattery by saying: “My arm definitely can’t handle that now. I’d just be flipping it up there.”

The other position player mentioned by multiple Rockies was outfielder Gerardo Parra, whose fun spirit was cited in addition this scouting report by Nolan Arenado: “Parra can probably throw some cheese — a high spin-rate guy.”

How would the Colorado relievers feel about being spelled by a position player, though? In a huge blowout, even one of the bullpen’s most reliable arms, right-hander Adam Ottavino, admitted there is an obvious upside beyond fan excitement.

“As a reliever, there’s times when you appreciate it because you do need to save the arms and you don’t want to run a guy out there for too long,” Ottavino said. “From that perspective, sometimes we appreciate it even though it’s not a great brand of baseball.”

Still, though, the Rockies have a collective hope that the ultrameaningful seven weeks of regular season left won’t allow Black to call on a position player in a game in which they’re getting torched.

“I would love to do it one time, but I don’t know when,” Arenado said. “Hopefully, it’s not necessary this year.”

Rusin activated from DL.

Ahead of Thursday’s series opener against the Dodgers at Coors Field, Colorado activated lefthander Chris Rusin off the disabled list and optioned sparingly used right-hander Yency Almonte to Triple-A Albuquerque in a corresponding move.

Rusin, sidelined by plantar fascitis since July 24, had been rehabbing with the Isotopes.

In three relief outings (3L innings), the 31-year-old allowed two earned runs while walking two and striking out one.

Black noted that building Rusin’s confidence back up will be a priority, as the reliever posted an 8.44 ERA in his last seven major-league outings prior to getting hurt. He has a 6.81 total ERA on the season in 39M innings.

“When you have confidence, you have a tendency to make better pitches and pitch more aggressively,” Black said. “I sensed that Chris was pitching a little tentatively. He might not think that, but when you’re sort of pitching on the fringes and walking some people, which is unnatural for him, we’ve got to get back to the Chris Rusin who is really aggressive and attacking the zone.”

Dahl gets fourth straight start.

After being recalled Sunday from Triple-A, where he was rehabbing from a foot fracture, outfielder David Dahl was slotted into Thursday’s starting lineup for a fourth straight game.

Dahl has hit .333 (4-for-12) with a home run in the three games since his return, and is batting .282 with five longballs overall this season.

He also has less competition for playing time at the corner spots since Noel Cuevas got optioned back to Albuquerque on July 29.

“He’s taking some good swings, which I like,” Black said. “There’s bat speed, there’s pitch recognition, the bat’s getting though the zone and he’s getting on base. He’s contributing, and David’s doing his part to help us.”

As for Dahl, who missed all of the 2017 major-league season with a rib injury, the 24-year-old is excited to be able to contribute to the Rockies’ playoff chances down the stretch.

“I’m just trying to take advantage of this latest opportunity here and, most importantly, help the team win,” Dahl said.