TUCSON, Ariz.—Tim Redding, vying for a spot on Colorado’s staff, started and allowed three hits and run in the Rockies’ 8-6 victory against a Milwaukee Brewers’ split-squad Saturday.
Redding is in camp on a minor league deal. The Rockies might be in need of a starter if Jeff Francis isn’t ready to begin the regular season after missing all of 2009 following shoulder surgery.
Redding threw 15 of 30 pitches for strikes in two innings.
“I’ll take it. I don’t know if I’m happy with it,” Redding said of his outing. “I wasn’t able to pound the zone as much as I’m accustomed to. I got to be a little crisper than I was today.”
Redding said he needed to do a better job at getting balls inside to left-handed hitters, who got the three hits Redding yielded.
Jody Gerut and Craig Counsell, were two of the more recognizable players in the Brewers’ lineup and each had two hits. Counsell scored twice, and Gerut hit a windblown triple and double, reached base on his three plate appearances and drove in three runs.
The Rockies were held hitless until Dexter Fowler, playing his first exhibition game after missing two days of workouts earlier in the week due to illness, led off the fourth with a double. He scored on third baseman Joe Inglett’s two-base error on a ball hit by Paul Lo Duca.
Jhoulys Chacin, one of the Rockies top pitching prospects, followed Redding and gave up six ground balls in the third. But keeping the ball out of the air didn’t pay off as Chacin yielded three runs on three consecutive singles to open the inning. Firts baseman Lo Duca’s fielding error at first enabled two runs to score and was followed by Stefan Wilson’s run-scoring fielder’s choice.
Brewers starter Chris Narverson, a left-hander who spent time in the Rockies organization after being acquired from St. Louis in the August 2004 trade that sent Larry Walker to the Cardinals, pitched two hitless innings.
The Rockies closed to within one run by scoring three in the seventh against Alex Periard. The rally began with consecutive doubles by Hector Gomez and Matt Miller and included Mike McKenry’s one-out single.
Milwaukee had extended its lead to 6-2 with a two-run fifth that included back-to-back doubles by Carlos Gomez and Gerut, who scored on George Kotteras’ sacrifice fly.
