INJURED CUDDYER EAGER TO RETURN
As the doldrums settle in over the Rockies like a Charlie Brown rain cloud, the disparity in what they can be and what they are shines into view.
With the bases loaded in the fifth inning Sunday at Coors Field, Gold Glove third baseman Nolan Arenado charged a chopper down the line off the bat of the Dodgers’ JuanUribe. Arenado plucked the ball with his bare hand and, in stride, reared back a whip throw to home plate.
But catcher Wilin Rosario wasn’t prepared for the spectacular. He needed only to catch the ball with his foot on the plate to force an out. Instead, he got caught up the first-base line, and Adrian Gonzalez, not the most fleet of foot, slid in under a late tag.
It was only one run, but it kept alive a five-run fifth inning as the Dodgers went on to wash away the Rockies 8-2.
“It’s hard to tell,” Rockies manager Walt Weiss said of the play. “He fielded it behind the runner. SoWilin might have set up out in front of the plate to give Nolan a throwing lane and then wasn’t able to get back to the plate to make a tag.”
Los Angeles (51-40), in first place in the National League West, moved 13 games ahead of the Rockies (37-52).
Colorado lost for the 17th time in its past 20 games. The Rockies, who squeaked out an 8-7 victory Saturday, haven’twon consecutive games since June 11-15, when they won five in a row against Atlanta and San Francisco. They’re only half a game ahead of Arizona for the worst record in the National League.
Gonzalez’s run in the fifth— at first called an out, then rightly overturned with Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly’s replay challenge — was part of a fourhit, five-run inning that included two walks and a hit batsman.
“Up to that point, he was cruising,” Weiss said of Rockies pitcher Yohan Flande. “Then he ran into trouble there in the fifth.”
Between a double by L.A. pitcher Josh Beckett to open the frame and his groundout to Arenado to end it, the Dodgers batted around on two Colorado pitchers.
With three runs in, Weiss took the ball from the 28-year-old Flande (who made his major- league debut two weeks ago) and handed it 29-year-old reliever Brooks Brown (whomade his major-league debut Sunday).
Flande gave up nine hits and five runs in 4Linnings. Hewalked two, with no strikeouts. Most of his damage came after throwing a scoreless four innings.
Brown became the seventh pitcher to make his big-league debut for theRockies this season after playing with three other franchises in his career.
“Just hadtocomeinandhopefully get a groundball, which I did,” Brownsaid. “AndArenadomadean outstanding playandwe almost got him. But unfortunately we didn’t. Hate to give up runs any time.”
In popping the Rockies for 15 hits, the Dodgers did it with paper cuts. They had only two extrabase hits: Beckett’s double, and another from Yasiel Puig in a three-run eighth inning. Matt Kemp led L.A. with four hits.
TheRockies counteredwith only a double from center fielder Drew Stubbs. He and Justin Morneau (batting .316) each had two hits. Michael Cuddyer is in limbo. He still has his left arm in a sling, and he’s not sure when he’s going to play baseball again.
His three-year, $31.5 million contract with the Rockies concludes at the end of this season. Soon, the 35-year-old outfielder and first baseman will be a player without a team.
But the always-upbeat Cuddyer is taking things one day at a time.
Plans are for Cuddyer to have an MRI on his broken left shoulder after the Rockies return from their trip to Pittsburgh on July 21. If it’s healed, he will begin getting back in shape for baseball.
If the shoulder has not sufficiently healed, his season— and his career with the Rockies— could be over.
Cuddyer suffered a nondisplaced fracture of the glenoid socket in his left shoulder June 5 when he dived while playing third base against Arizona.
“That will be sixweeks,” he said of the schedule for the pending MRI. “If it’s healed by then, Iwill startmy strengthening and rehab. If it’s not healed, it’s probably going to be another couple of weeks in a sling. Obviously, we are hoping for the former. ...
“(The Rockies’ medical staff) is fairly confident that it will be healed.”
Cuddyer said he hasn’t had any conversations with the Rockies about getting a new contract.
“First and foremost, I want to come back healthy,” he said. “That’s the first thing that is on my mind. I want to come back and play six weeks, five weeks or a month, whatever it might be. At least play a little bit, and show that I’m healthy so at least I don’t have that hanging over my head.”
If the Rockies made an offer for him to return, would he listen?
“Of course I would, no question,” he said. “I love it here.
“It obviously hasn’t panned out this season the way we thought it would so far, whether it’s because of injuries or whatever the case may be.”
CarGo update.
Carlos Gonzalez (left finger) left Denver on Sunday for Round Rock, Texas. He will start for the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox onMonday against the Express in a rehab assignment. Gonzalez will probably play three games for the Sky Sox, putting him in line for a return to the Rockies on Friday against the Twins at Coors Field.
Another pitcher on DL.
Reliever Nick Masset suffered a patellar tendon strain in his left knee in Saturday’s game. Sunday, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
To replaceMasset, the Rockies called up right-handed reliever Brooks Brown from Triple-A. Also, they designated Single-A Modesto Nuts right-hander Raul Fernandez for assignment.