Rockies' rookie Senzatela looks to improve to 3-0 (Apr 22, 2017)
DENVER -- Antonio Senzatela, a 22-year-old rookie who had never pitched above the Double-A level before this season, will try to continue his impressive career start for the Colorado Rockies and beat the slumping San Francisco Giants on Saturday.
The Rockies have won the three games started in the big leagues by Senzatela, who is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA and has allowed four walks with 14 strikeouts in 19 innings. He is 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA against the Giants, having pitched into the eighth inning in his last start, Sunday at AT&T Park, while allowing three runs in seven innings.
"He has a nice self-assurance to him that will play as he moves forward," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "He pitches aggressively with his fastball. He doesn't back down. There's a calmness to this fellow that we like."
The Rockies are 11-6 -- the fifth-best start in franchise history through 17 games -- with wins in four of their past five games and are 4-1 against the Giants this season. The Giants are 6-11, their worst start through 17 games since 2008, when they were also 6-11.
Left-hander Matt Moore will start for the Giants. He is 1-2 with a 4.26 ERA this season and lost his last start to the Rockies on Saturday at AT&T Park 5-0 when he allowed 10 hits and five runs in 5 2/3 innings. That was the most hits he has yielded since May 23, 2016, at Miami when he gave up 10 hits in five innings while pitching for Tampa Bay. Moore is 0-1 with an 11.74 ERA in two career starts at Coors Field.
"The last start, his stuff actually came down," Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti said. "We weren't sure if it was the (radar) gun or not, but he didn't have his real good fastball. He threw a lot of changeups and cutters ... There's a way he's successful and when he is, he's real aggressive with his fastball. All the slower stuff off of that works a lot better."
Moore typically averages 93 mph with his fastball, which averaged 91 mph in his last outing against the Rockies.
The Giants are facing the grim prospect of being without ace Madison Bumgarner for a significant period. He sustained a sprained left shoulder and bruised ribs in a motorized dirt bike accident when the Giants were off Thursday. He was diagnosed with a Grade 1 or 2 sprain of the AC joint the severity had not been determined.
"Whether it was him or anybody else on your staff, you just worry about their health and how they're going to be," Righetti said. "You can't go, 'How do you make that up?' You don't; you go to the next guy and try to do your best there. But in general, pretty damn good pitcher we're going to be without for a while."
Giants catcher Buster Posey said: "The main thing is you have to be grateful he's not hurt worse than he is. You have to look at it in that light...I don't know the timetable. I'm not sure anybody does. Just be thankful he's not hurt any worse.
"You're surprised. Again, we ought to just look forward and go out and play hard baseball, and hopefully he'll be back before too long."
