Rockies ace Tyler Chatwood walked off the mound with help in the second inning Saturday in Miami and straight into Colorado’s clubhouse with a back injury.
Chatwood suffered a midback spasm, the Rockies announced. His status is considered day to day.
“He wasn’t of sorts, didn’t look comfortable,” Colorado catcher Nick Hundley said. “His movements weren’t the same. They did a good job of getting him out of there before he did more damage to his back or his arm.”
Team trainer Keith Dugger and manager Walt Weiss came to the mound in a hurry after Chatwood walked Miami’s Martin Prado on seven pitches with two outs in the second inning. Chatwood’s final pitch went wild, skipping past catcher Nick Hundley to the backstop. He was slow to react in covering home plate.
Chatwood had given up one run, but he left the bases loaded for his replacement, Eddie Butler, who pitched for the first time in 11 days.
“That’s the life of a long man sometimes. It’s not an easy role,” Colorado manager Walt Weiss said.
Chatwood, who returned this season after a second Tommy John surgery, struck out two and walked three through 1⅔ innings. Butler gave up a two-run single; the runs were charged to Chatwood. In his last start, seven days ago in Denver against the Padres, Chatwood said he had been feeling ill.
Chatwood’s 0.65 ERA on the road this season entering Saturday was the best in baseball, nearly half the nearest pitcher, Texas’ Colby Lewis (1.29). And his 2.89 ERA was by far the best among Colorado’s starters. That number rose to 3.15 on Saturday.
“Just hopped up on him,” Weiss said of Chatwood’s injury. “We watched him for a couple, three hitters. He didn’t look right. His body language was off.”
