Tucson – Clint Hurdle loves a good dose of spring training drama, and the Rockies manager got his fill of it Sunday afternoon at Hi Corbett Field.
It began with the ever-tightening battle between pitchers Josh Fogg and Byung-Hyun Kim for a spot at the back of the rotation. It culminated with a walk-off, three-run homer by Seth Smith in Colorado’s 5-4 win over Kansas City.
Fogg and Kim rebounded from lackluster performances Wednesday with impressive four-inning outings Sunday. A confident Fogg said that if he pitches well, everything else will fall into place.
“I plan on starting the fourth or fifth (regular-season) game, and if that doesn’t happen, or if something changes and that’s kind of up in the air, that’s nothing I can control,” Fogg said. “I just have to go out there and work on getting better right now. I’m working on getting game- ready. That’s what spring training is for.”
Fogg gave up one run on two hits, walked one and struck out two. Kim followed with four strong innings of his own, yielding one hit, one unearned run and two walks while striking out six.
“I thought Josh pitched very effectively,” Hurdle said. “He spotted his fastball and used his changeup and his curveball. B.K. had good command, good tempo, worked quick and threw strong. It was a really a strong eight innings for those two.”
Although the race for the No. 1 starter appears to be between Aaron Cook and Jeff Francis, with Rodrigo Lopez slotted in the third spot, general manager Dan O’Dowd said the race for the fourth and fifth spots remains open.
In addition to Fogg and Kim, rookie Jason Hirsh and veteran Brian Lawrence are in the mix.
“We haven’t made any decisions on that yet,” O’Dowd said. “I expect that will come toward the end of camp.”
Helton returns
After missing three starts with a sore right knee, Todd Helton was back in action Sunday, playing five innings and going 0-for-2.
He is hitting .364 but doesn’t have an extra-base hit yet.
“That was just the first step,” Hurdle said. “He wanted to stay in a little bit longer, but we’ll get him back in there tomorrow. The training staff wanted to get him four or five innings of defense and two at-bats and then go from there. Everything went well.”
Footnotes
The Rockies sent six pitchers back to their minor-league camp: right- handers Juan Morillo, Alberto Arias and Greg Reynolds; and left-handers Eric DuBose, Franklin Morales and Josh Newman….Infielder Omar Quintanilla tripled for the second straight day, and each of his past three at-bats has gone for extra bases….The Rockies host Arizona at 2:05 p.m. MDT. Right-hander Cook is schedule to start for the Rockies against Diamondbacks righty Dustin Nippert.
