When a team is nearly 30 games below .500, as the Rockies are, September becomes a testing ground.
Especially for next season’s potential starting pitchers.
Much is evaluated, including pitching tempo, ability to throw a secondary pitch in the clutch and the mastery of a new pitch.
But most of all, a pitcher must prove he consistently can deliver his bread-and-butter pitch.
By that measure, Rockies starter Zach Day failed Saturday in Colorado’s 8-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Coors Field. It was the Rockies’ fourth straight loss, taking some luster off their recent four-game winning streak.
For Day, it was a missed opportunity.
“Basically, I want to see Zach’s command and control of his sinker,” manager Clint Hurdle said before the game.
Hurdle’s opinion after the game: “He wasn’t sharp tonight.”
Day’s sinker floated up around the thighs of Diamondbacks hitters, allowing them to tee off early and often. In the second inning, Day served up back-to- back home runs to Troy Glaus and Shawn Green. Glaus’ homer was 428 feet; Green’s was 422.
That’s 850 feet worth of homers, long shots even by Coors Field standards.
“Yeah, those pitches were up,” Day said. “The one to Green, it just didn’t sink. I was trying to get ahead of the hitters, but tonight I just wasn’t mechanically sound.”
Day, who fell to 1-3, was gone after five innings. He gave up six runs (five earned) on nine hits. He faced 27 batters and induced only five groundouts. That’s not the MO of a sinkerball pitcher.
Day’s performance certainly was a step back from last Sunday’s start against the Dodgers when he threw five solid innings at Coors, giving up two runs on seven hits.
The Rockies’ 2006 rotation is by no means set. Last month, the team demoted Jamey Wright to the bullpen and the search for quality starters continues.
The staff ace, for now, is Aaron Cook. The sinkerball pitcher, scheduled to throw today against the Diamondbacks, is riding a four-game winning streak. His poise, command and control have made him Colorado’s best late-summer pitcher.
Byung-Hyun Kim and Sunny Kim have been impressive of late, showing heat with their fastballs and displaying bulldog tenacity.
Lefty Jeff Francis, once a contender for rookie of the year when his record stood at 11-7 in early August, is now 12-11. Francis was gone after 14 outs Wednesday in San Diego, and he never found command of his pitches.
Due back in spring is the injured Jason Jennings, who has proven he can pitch at Coors Field.
“You have to make the most of your opportunities,” Hurdle said. “If we don’t take advantage of our opportunities, then maybe we go out hunting for a pitcher in the winter.”
That said, Hurdle made it clear he’s not giving up on Day.
“We feel like he has the skills, but he’s got to be able to take advantage and do it,” he said.
The Rockies took an early 2-0 lead on hot-hitting Cory Sullivan’s two-run homer to right field in the first. Sullivan’s homer, his third of the season, was his first in 127 at-bats.
But Colorado’s lead didn’t last long. First came the blasts by Glaus and Green in the second, followed by a three-run Diamondbacks’ third that featured four hits off Day and sloppy fielding by the Rockies.
Colorado closed the gap to 6-5 in the seventh, but Kelly Stinnett and Chad Tracy tagged Rockies reliever David Cortes with a solo homer in the eighth to close out Arizona’s victory.
Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or at psaunders@denverpost.com.
