Gomber roughed up by Chicago
Left-hander Austin Gomber pitched so well at Coors Field last season that the Twittersphere started referring to him as “Blake Street Gomber.”
Gomber, the centerpiece of the trade that sent Nolan Arenado to St. Louis last February, was 5-1 with a 2.09 ERA with 40 strikeouts, 14 walks and just five homers surrendered in nine starts at Coors Last season.
Sunday was a different story. The Cubs scored five runs (four earned) off the left-hander in 4 1/3 innings in their 6-4 win. Gomber gave up eight hits, including a solo homer to Wilson Contreras in the first inning, and walked four (one intentional).
“For sure, the command was off,” Gomber said. “I made a lot of mistakes in the middle, they were aggressive and they made me pay. The command wasn’t there and I need to improve, for sure.”
Gomber said he felt like his delivery was a little bit rushed, adding that “the shape” of his breaking pitches was not what he wanted.
“I’m close, though,” he said. “And I felt like there were some starts like this last year that would have gotten away worse than today, so that’s a positive. We were still close still in the game.”
Welker’s chance. Corner infielder Colton Welker was recalled by the Rockies on Sunday to replace Garrett Hampson, who was placed on the 10-day injured list with a bruised right hand.
Welker’s spring training was interrupted by a bacterial infection in his right eye. The timing was terrible, but he made up for it by playing well at the tail end of camp and then raking at Triple-a Albuquerque, slashing .375/.447/ .594 with two homers and seven RBIS in eight games.
“I’m feeling really comfortable right now and I felt really good when I went to Triple-a,” Welker said.
He needs to take eye drops six times a day to make sure the infection doesn’t return.
Welker, 24, made his major league debut on Sept. 8 last season. He hit 6-for-27 in seven
starts and 1-for-10 in 12 at-bats off the bench for an average of .189.
Hampson said that he jammed his hand during spring training and the bruise never completely healed.
“It’s one of those things that’s not going to really get better until you rest it,” Hampson said. “I was hitting against the fastball machine when the (hand) got jammed.
“It started out as just a normal bruise and it gradually got worse. I tried to play through it these last couple of weeks. It hasn’t gotten better, so we wanted to nip in the
bud rather than deal with it for a long time.”
Footnotes. The Rockies got just two hits through the first four innings against Cubs lefty Drew Smyly, both hits coming from leadoff hitter Connor Joe. In nine starts this season, Joe is slashing .361/.465/.667. … Second baseman Brendan Rodgers went 0-for-4 Sunday and he’s hitting .097 with 12 strikeouts in 31 at-bats. … The Cubs’ 17 doubles during the fourgame series at Coors were their most in a single series since hitting 19 in a three-game set in 1931 against the Cardinals.