Flexible rules for spring training games allow for six inning games, shortened innings.
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. » Don’t be surprised if the Rockies and Dodgers play only six innings of baseball on Monday.
Such is the new world of spring training baseball in the age of the coronavirus.
Ahead of the official start of the spring training schedule on Sunday, Major League Baseball on Friday outlined its on-field protocols and modifications to games. Cactus and Grapefruit League games will feature shortened games and relaxed rules as mutually determined by managers.
“I’ll be talking to managers ahead of our games and we’ll sort this out,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.
Games through March 13 may be shortened to five innings or seven innings if both managers agree. Games that occur from March 14 until the end of spring training on March 30 may be shortened to seven-inning games.
In addition to the modified length of games, pitchers who are removed during a game will be allowed to re-enter at a later point and all spring training contests, regardless of length, can end in a tie after the scheduled length of the game has been played.
Also, through March 13, defensive managers can end an inning before three outs following any completed plate appearance, provided the pitcher has thrown at least 20 pitches.
Black said that Sunday’s Cactus League opener between the Rockies and Diamondbacks at Salt River Fields will likely go nine innings.
Estevez’s explanation. One of the biggest mysteries of the Rockies’ poor 2020 season might have an answer.
Right-handed reliever Carlos Estevez said Friday that his struggles were tied to an injury he suffered Aug. 16 when a comebacker bruised the back of his right hand.
The hard-throwing Estevez, who was counted on to be an integral part of the bullpen, finished the season with a 7.50 ERA and a 1.75 WHIP. Overall, the Rockies’ bullpen posted a 6.77 ERA, the highest for a single season in franchise history.
“I lost my slider and I was getting an impingement in my fingers every once in a while while I was throwing,” Estevez said. “I would throw three good pitches and then the next two I would have, like a shock down my fingers. It was pretty tough.”
In the Aug. 16 game at Coors Field against Texas, a line drive off the bat of Scott Heineman drilled Estevez in the hand and he was in obvious pain. The Rockies were initially concerned Estevez might have suffered a broken hand but X-rays were negative.
At first, the injury did not seem to negatively affect Estevez. He pitched four scoreless outings in a row, whittling his ERA down to 2.25. After that, however, batters started pummeling the righthander. He went 0-3 with an 18.00 ERA over his last 11 appearances. Five of the six home runs he allowed in 2020 came in his last nine games.
“My day was really long and I had to get to the field early to get a heat pack on my hand and get a massage to get the fluid down,” Estevez said, explaining his routine after suffering the injury. “My hand was always swollen.”
Estevez still has a knot on the back of his hand but said the pain is gone.
Footnotes. Left-hander Austin Gomber, acquired from St. Louis in the Nolan Arenado trade, is scheduled to start Sunday. … Black said that the first four pitchers in the rotation — German Marquez, Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela and Jon Gray — won’t pitch for the first week of games.