Greg Reynolds, Alan Johnson and Clayton Mortensen. The tweaking of the Rockies’ pitching staff won’t end with them. There will be another move, if not two, today.
Mortensen was recalled Monday from Triple-A Colorado Springs, and Johnson was sent back to the Sky Sox.
The move was made to provide a fresh arm in the bullpen and, sure enough, Mortensen relieved Esmil Rogers in the fourth inning.
The Rockies will make another move so they can activate Ubaldo Jimenez, tonight’s starter, off the 15-day disabled list. But they could make two, with Mortensen returning to the minors and Ian Stewart, he of the .077 batting average, a candidate to land in Triple-A so the Rockies could add yet another fresh arm to the bullpen.
Stewart’s situation “is somewhat of a pickle,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. Stewart missed a big chunk of spring training, and his swing, in his own words, is “in between” — too slow on fastballs, too quick on breaking balls.
Tracy has been looking for sensible matchups for Stewart, but they’ve been difficult to find. Stewart is a career 10-for-53 with 28 strikeouts against Giants starters Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain.
If Stewart is optioned out and the Rockies recall a reliever — Matt Daley would loom as the likely candidate — it could be for only a day or two, since the Rockies would want to bring up a position player to replace Stewart.
Footnotes.
Seth Smith (tightness, left groin) will return to the lineup in Wednesday’s series finale. . . . Matt Belisle was unavailable Monday after working two innings Sunday, and Tracy said he wouldn’t pitch tonight, either. . . . Jimenez is 0-0 with a 7.50 ERA. Last year at this point, he was 4-0, 0.95.
Jim Armstrong, The Denver Post
