San Diego — The education of Jon Gray continues Sunday night at Petco Park, and the Rockies are counting on him to help dig them out of a deepening rut.
“Jon’s in a good place. There have been some mechanical tweaks and all of those things, between his starts,” manager Walt Weiss said Saturday before Colorado took on the Padres. “His side (sessions) are getting better and better, and more efficient. And when he gets out there on the mound, there is belief now, because he’s had enough success to fall back on. That makes him a confident pitcher.”
In his last start, Gray (3-2, 5.76 ERA) lacked his usual command. He walked three — one free pass coming with the bases loaded — in six innings.. But he fanned four, held Cincinnati to five hits and posted his fifth quality start in his last six outings as Colorado bombed the Reds 17-4.
No Arenado tirade hangover. The Rockies insist there is no hangover from Friday night’s game in which star third baseman Nolan Arenado cut loose with an angry tirade in the first inning of San Diego’s 4-0 victory.
Indeed, the Rockies’ spin is that Arenado’s outburst might be beneficial.
“It was good he let it out. He was angry,” said outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who was back in the starting lineup Saturday night after sitting out Friday’s game. “Guys express anger in different ways. Some guys will dump the Gatorade or break a bat. He was upset about the other team scoring runs. But that’s OK, we all get that way.”
Arenado was caught on TV cameras screaming angry words in the Rockies’ dugout after the Padres took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on Matt Kemp’s 458-foot, three-run homer off starter Chris Rusin.
“If anything, it might have a positive effect. It’s definitely not going to be negative,” Weiss said. “We know Nolan. We are around him every day. He’s very intense and wants to win badly. It’s not uncommon to see stuff like that.”
Footnotes. Playing in his second game for Triple-A Albuquerque, shortstop Jose Reyes went 1-for-3 and hit a home run Friday night. He was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts Thursday. … Arenado entered Saturday with 22 walks vs. 23 strikeouts this season and had not fanned since April 28 vs. San Francisco. That was the second-longest active streak in the National League.
