Rockies meet Diamondbacks, aim for first series victory of season

Colorado interim manager Warren Schaeffer had a game — and a celebration — that he will never forget Saturday.

The shaving cream on his face was a dead giveaway.

After the Rockies overcame a five-run deficit for a 14-12 victory over Arizona in Phoenix, Schaeffer was packed into an equipment cart and rolled into the shower room. Let the dousing begin.

“Age-old baseball tradition,” said Schaeffer, who got his first victory in his fifth game since being promoted to replace manager Bud Black last Sunday.

“They take you into the shower and pour all kinds of liquids on you. Whatever. ‘Chivi’ (Angel Chivilli) had Listerine he was dumping on me. Anything goes. It was awesome.”

The Rockies will attempt to build on what Schaeffer called “an exceptionally memorable” first win to earn their first series victory of the season on Sunday.

Rookie right-hander Chase Dollander (2-4, 6.88 ERA) is to oppose Diamondbacks’ right-hander Merrill Kelly (4-2, 3.71).

The Rockies have lost their first 14 series and are 8-37. Despite the victory, they still are off to the worst start in modern major league history (since 1901).

Colorado had season highs in runs and hits (19) while overcoming an 11-6 deficit in the sixth to break a four-game losing streak. They had lost 12 of 13.

Jordan Beck had three hits including two of Colorado’s five homers, and Hunter Goodman and Kyle Farmer each homered and had four RBIs. Ezequiel Tovar had a career-high five hits, including a homer, in his second game after missing a month with a left hip injury.

“My main focus was to put the ball in play and help the team get the victory,” Tovar said.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, lost a chance for their first three-game winning streak in a month when the bullpen gave up eight runs in four innings.

Relief might not be far away. Closer Justin Martinez could be activated as soon as the three-game series at the Los Angeles Dodgers that begins Monday, manager Torey Lovullo said.

Martinez threw 10 pitches in one inning of an Arizona League game Saturday and threw another 10 in the bullpen. The Diamondbacks are debating whether to send him straight to the majors or give him a short rehab assignment at Triple-A Reno.

“He’s getting very close,” Lovullo said.

Kelly has shown no recent signs of the hamstring cramping issues that forced him out of two games earlier this season with consecutive quality starts against the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants the past two times out.

Kelly went seven innings for the first time this season in a 2-1 victory at the Giants last Monday and is 3-1 with a 2.36 ERA in his past seven starts. He is 7-3 with a 3.51 ERA in 15 starts against the Rockies. Tovar is 7-for-16 with two solo homers against Kelly.

Dollander, the Rockies’ first-round draft pick in 2023, made one start at Triple-A Albuquerque this season before being promoted. He enters after his best start of the season, a 2-1 loss at Texas on Monday in which he gave up two runs on one hit — a two-run homer by Wyatt Langford — in six innings.

-Field Level Media