RHP Senzatela strains hamstring

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ .» Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela is out with an injury.

The right-hander suffered a slightly strained right hamstring on Monday and will likely miss two Cactus League starts.

“He’s been set back just a touch,” manager Bud Black said Wednesday afternoon. “He suffered it doing pitchers’ conditioning. We are going to see how it sets up. He’s getting treatment. He played catch today and he probably won’t make (his first) start and is probably doubtful for the next one.”

Senzatela had a breakout 2020 season and is being counted on to be one of Colorado’s best pitchers this season. Last year, he posted a 3.44 ERA and a 1.214 WHIP while walking only 2.2 batters per nine innings. All of those statistics were club bests.

Gilbreath’s debut. Left-hander Lucas Gilbreath, 25, a graduate of Legacy High School in Broomfield, made his Cactus League debut for the Rockies Wednesday at Salt River Fields, striking out three Oakland batters in his one inning of work.

“I went into it knowing that I was going to be a little bit nervous, but I don’t think I quite understood the extent of not pitching in a game for over a year and then hopping back into it,” said Gilbreath, who was selected in the seventh round of the 2017 draft.

“Today, I was able to throw my fastball up in the zone and then work my slider off of that,” said Gilbreath, whose first love was hockey, a sport he began playing when he was 5 years old.

“He’s been on the radar now for about the last 12 months,” Black said. “Our player development people like the arm and they like what he’s about. His velocity has picked up and he’s got a live arm.

“I think the future is bright. We are going to continue to give him some exposure here and see what we’ve got.”

Gilbreath reached High-A Lancaster in 2019, going 5-10 with a 5.81 ERA in 28 games, all starts. He didn’t pitch the minors last year because of the pandemic but did participate in the Arizona Instructional League in the fall. He was added to the Rockies’ 40-man roster in November.

Gilbreath wasn’t shy about expressing his feelings about wearing a Rockies jersey in a game for the first time.

“For me, it was a dream come true,” he said. “Today, when I got here and saw my jersey for the first time, it was kind of crazy, almost surreal. It’s such a blessing to come up with the team that I always grew up watching.”