Concern came rushing at the Rockies on Sunday when Carlos Gonzalez exited a game against the Brewers with what the team called a left hand sprain.
Gonzalez said he injured his hand on a flyball swing in the third inning. He returned for the fourth and leaped against the out-of-town scoreboard trying to catch a Ryan Braun line drive. Before the fifth, Gonzalez was pulled.
“I took a couple of dry swings and it was sore, so they decided to take me out of the game,” Gonzalez said.
X-rays were negative for any significant injury. And he is considered day-to-day, the team said. But his hand was heavily wrapped after the game.
“No bone problems. They said it’s probably just a sprain,” Gonzalez said. “Hopefully it’s nothing bad. We have a day off tomorrow, which is nice. So we’ll see how it is when I come back Tuesday.”
When the rain finally went away this month, Gonzalez heated up like the Colorado summer. In June, the Rockies’ right fielder more than doubled his season totals for home runs (from four to 10) and RBIs (from 13 to 27).
More importantly, Gonzalez was playing regularly. Injuries stunted his 2013 and ’14 seasons to just 180 games combined. But this season, he’s played in 64 of the Rockies’ 69 games.
The Rockies on Sunday started infielder Rafael Ynoa in left field, to give Brandon Barnes a break. Barnes moved into the starting role after Corey Dickerson (left foot inflammation) went back to the disabled list.
If Colorado loses Gonzalez, they’ll need another outfielder from Triple-A, possibly Kyle Parker or Drew Stubbs.
But Gonzalez wasn’t too worried about himself.
“Right now I don’t think it’ll be a problem,” he said.
Nick Hundley avoiding cold snap
Nick Hundley was 1-for-8 in this homestand before Sunday. But he can live with it after hitting 4-for-4 with two doubles and three runs in Sunday’s series finale. It was his fifth career four-hit game, tying a career high.
Hundley was trending downward — he hit .317 in April, .292 in May, and .239 in June before Sunday. But his average overall is back to .302.
“This is as consistent as I’ve been in my career,” He said. “I’ve always been able to get hot, but when I get cold, I get real cold. When I slip away a little bit, I can come back quicker and avoid the 0-for-20s.”
Looking ahead
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Diamondbacks’ Chase Anderson (3-1, 2.84 ERA) at Rockies’ Kyle Kendrick (2-9, 5.95), 6:40 p.m., ROOT
Wednesday: Diamondbacks’ Allen Webster (1-1, 6.55) at Rockies’ David Hale (2-2, 5.28), 6:40 p.m., ROOT
Thursday: Diamondbacks’ Rubby De La Rosa (6-3, 4.96) at Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa (4-3, 5.47), 1:10 p.m., no TV
Friday: Rockies’ Chad Bettis (3-2, 3.44) at Giants’ TBA, 8:15 p.m., ROOT
