Rockies at Pirates
The Colorado Rockies try to salvage a .500 road trip when they seek a three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday afternoon. Colorado (22-25) received a huge boost from its Nos. 6-8 hitters in Wednesday's 9-3 victory as center fielder Ian Desmond, rookie second baseman Brendan Rodgers and catcher Tony Wolters were a combined 7-for-15 with four RBIs and four runs scored.
Wolters (three-run homer Wednesday) has emerged as a force behind the plate in his fourth season, batting .294 after taking a .226 career average into 2019 and throwing out eight would-be base stealers with a caught stealing rate of 55.6 percent. Rodgers went 3-for-5 in his third career game as the third pick in the 2015 draft tries to fill the void left by D.J. LeMahieu, who left via free agency during the offseason. Pittsburgh (24-22) lost the momentum of a 7-4 road trip that it took into the series and is saddled with a minus-50 run differential - second-worst in the National League to Miami (minus-85). The Pirates' Jordan Lyles faces his former club Thursday while boasting a 1.97 ERA and opposes Antonio Senzatela, who is 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA in two starts since suffering his worst outing of the season.
TV: 12:35 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies RH Antonio Senzatela (3-3, 4.89 ERA) vs. Pirates RH Jordan Lyles (4-1, 1.97)
Senzatela allowed two runs (one earned), five hits and four walks over five innings of a 2-1 loss at Philadelphia on May 18 after defeating San Diego (three runs, seven strikeouts in 6 2/3 frames) on May 12. The 24-year-old Venezuelan, who has a 1.45 WHIP and .277 batting average against, is part of a rotation that boasts a National League-high 5.42 ERA. Senzatela's only appearance against Pittsburgh came last season, when he pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
Lyles yielded one run in each of his last three starts and struck out a career-high 12 over seven innings of a 5-3 victory at San Diego on Friday. The 28-year-old South Carolina native, who was 13-16 with a 5.22 ERA in 105 games (37 starts) with Colorado in 2014-17, has 47 strikeouts against 32 hits and 16 walks - good for a 1.05 WHIP - across 45 2/3 innings this season while relying more on his curveball. Trevor Story, Nolan Arenado and Desmond have each homered while going a combined 9-for-36 versus Lyles, who is 1-3 with a 4.86 ERA in 11 games (five starts) against Colorado.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Rockies placed RHP Wade Davis on the 10-day injured list (left oblique) and recalled RHP Jairo Diaz, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning Wednesday in his first major league appearance since 2017.
2. Pirates 1B Josh Bell on Wednesday hit a home run into the Allegheny River for the second time in two weeks, giving him two of the five splash hits since PNC Park opened in 2001.
3. Colorado 1B Daniel Murphy (.190) snapped a 17-game homerless drought with a three-run blast Wednesday.