Six days after he was scratched from a start because of a sore elbow, Colorado Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber will be back on the mound Sunday to face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Instead of pushing back his start a few days, the Rockies skipped it completely to line him up in the road game against the first-place Dodgers on 10 days of rest and back in his regular rotation slot.
“No restrictions there. We’ll keep an eye on him for sure,” Rockies manager Bud Black said in preparation for the outing. “But he feels good.”
Well rested and confident will be key for Gomber, who is 0-3 with a 5.67 ERA in seven appearances (six starts) against the Dodgers. He is 0-1 with a 3.79 ERA in four starts at Dodger Stadium.
Gomber (1-2, 2.76 ERA) hopes the long rest won’t stunt his momentum. He had a 0.68 ERA in four May starts and had partnered with fellow starter Cal Quantrill to spark a run during which the Rockies had won 13 of 20 games heading into Saturday’s contest against the Dodgers.
“We kept (the rotation) on their regular day,” Black said. “All the other guys felt good so we just gave (Gomber) the maximum rest to make sure the elbow felt good.”
Quantrill’s run of good fortune hit a dead end Saturday when he gave up four runs in just 4 1/3 innings of a 4-1 loss to the Dodgers. It was the most runs he had allowed since April 27 and his most hits surrendered since also giving up nine in his season debut. It was just the second time he did not deliver at least five innings this season.
Colorado’s Ezequiel Tovar has three hits in each of the first two games of the series. Tovar has multiple hits in six of his past nine games with three or more hits seven times this season.
“Our confidence is always there whether we win or lose,” Tovar said through an interpreter. “We have to maintain that level of confidence no matter what we do and go out and compete and do what we do best.”
The Rockies won Friday’s series opener, 4-1.
Sunday, the Dodgers will counter with right-hander Gavin Stone (5-2, 3.16), who has been on his own strong run of late. Stone has a 2.20 ERA over his past eight starts and had a 1.97 mark in five May games, when he went 3-1.
Stone’s best start of the season came Tuesday at New York in the second game of a doubleheader against the Mets when he gave up three hits over seven scoreless innings. The outing helped Los Angeles deliver a three-game sweep after the club lost all three games of a series at Cincinnati.
“Gavin was fantastic. He really was,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “(The Mets) didn’t threaten at all. Got a lot of quick outs, with swing and miss. His command with the fastball at the bottom of the zone was good all night long. Mixed in a lot of good changeups.”
Stone will be facing the Rockies for the first time.
The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts is 0-for-9 in the current series and 0-for-13 over his past three games. Betts has just two home runs since April 13.
Los Angeles’ Shohei Ohtani stole his 100th career base Saturday. Will Smith had an RBI double and has five extra-base hits over his last four games.
–Field Level Media
