NL WILD CARD GAME
Colorado Rockies at Arizona Diamondbacks
7:08 p.m. Central, TBS
PROJECTED LINEUPS
ROCKIES
PLAYER, POS.;AVG.;HR;RBI
Charlie Blackmon, CF;.331;37;104
DJ LeMahieu, 2B;.310;8;64
Nolan Arenado, 3B;.309;37;130
Carlos Gonzalez, RF;.262;14;57
Trevor Story, SS;.239;24;82
Mark Reynolds, 1B;.267;30;97
Ian Desmond, LF;.274;7;40
Jonathan Lucroy, C;.265;6;40
STARTING PITCHER
PLAYER;REC.;ERA
Jon Gray, RHP;10-6;3.267
RELIEVERS
RHP Greg Holland (3-6, 3.61 ERA, 41 saves), LHP Mike Dunn (5-1, 4.47), LHP Jake McGee (0-2, 3.61, 3 saves), RHP Scott Oberg (0-1, 4.94), RHP Pat Neshek (5-3, 1.59), LHP Chris Rusin (5-1, 2.65, 2 saves)
DIAMONDBACKS
PLAYER, POS.;AVG.;HR;RBI
David Peralta, RF;.293;14;57
Ketel Marte, SS;.260;5;18
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B;.297;36;120
J.D. Martinez, LF ;.303;45;104
Jake Lamb, 3B;.248;30;105
A.J. Pollock, CF;.266;14;49
Daniel Descalso, 2B;.233;10;51
Chris Ianetta, C;.254;17;43
STARTING PITCHER
PLAYER;REC.;ERA
Zack Greinke, RHP;17-7;3.20
RELIEVERS
RHP Fernando Rodney (5-4, 4.23, 39 saves), RHP Archie Bradley (3-3, 1.73), LHP Andrew Chafin (1-0, 3.51), LHP Robbie Ray (15-5, 2.89), LHP Patrick Corbin (14-13, 4.03), RHP Zack Godley (8-9, 3.37), RHP David Hernandez (2-1, 4.82), RHP Jimmie Sherfy (2-0, 0.00 in 10⅔ innings)
NOTEWORTHY
It's the second postseason meeting between the teams. Colorado swept Arizona in the 2007 NLCS. ... The current collection of Rockies has a .260 combined batting average against Zack Greinke with 15 home runs and 42 RBI. Jonathan Lucroy leads the way at .636 (7 for 11), while Carlos Gonzalez has five home runs. Mark Reynolds and Trevor Story each have four home runs against Greinke. Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon have never homered off him. Ian Desmond is 3 for 22. ... The Diamondbacks are hitting .295 against Gray with two home runs and 11 RBI. J.D. Martinez has both home runs and four RBI. Paul Goldschmidt is 0 for 11 with five strikeouts. ... Greinke is 13-1 at home with a 2.87 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 116 innings. He went 2-1 with a 3.41 ERA in five starts against the Rockies this season. ... Gray has allowed three or fewer runs in 13 consecutive starts. ... Goldschmidt ended the season in an 0-for-17 slump and batted .171 over the final month. ... Martinez hit .478 against Colorado with 3 home runs, 9 RBI and 10 runs scored. ... Two of Rodney's six blown saves came against the Rockies. ... Blackmon had only eight hits in 44 at-bats (.182) vs. the Diamondbacks. ... Arizona and Colorado split 10 games at Chase Field this season. ... The winner heads for Los Angeles to play the NL West champion Dodgers (104-58) in a best-of-five Division Series beginning Friday.
BIG PICTURE
ROCKIES Under new Manager Bud Black, the surprising Rockies (87-75) got off to a fast start and hung on down the stretch to take the second NL wild card. This is their fourth postseason appearance and first since 2009. Colorado finished a game ahead of upstart Milwaukee, clinching baseball's final playoff spot on the next-to-last day of the regular season when the Brewers blew a six-run lead in a 7-6 loss at St. Louis. That put Manager Bud Black in the postseason for the first time as a big league skipper. He managed the Padres for 8½ seasons from 2007-2015 and was the 2010 NL Manager of the Year, but he never took them to the playoffs.
DIAMONDBACKS Just like the Rockies, Arizona (93-69) also flipped its record after going 69-93 last year. Manager Torey Lovullo preached communication from the first day of spring training and repeatedly uses the word "love" to describe team chemistry. New General Manager Mike Hazen chose not to overhaul the roster, saying he saw enough talent. Instead, he tinkered around the edges. Arizona got off to a 6-1 start and was 44-26 on June 18 after a seven-game winning streak. Although the Diamondbacks couldn't keep up with the torrid pace set by Los Angeles in the NL West, they were in the playoff picture throughout. A franchise-record 13-game winning streak late in the season helped secure the No. 1 wild card.
QUICK HITS
MVP Three top contenders for NL MVP are in this game: Paul Goldschmidt, Charlie Blackmon and Nolan Arenado. Goldschmidt finished runner-up for the award in 2013 and 2015. Arenado hit 18 home runs on the road this season and 19 at home. Blackmon's 37 home runs were the third-most by a leadoff hitter, trailing Alfonso Soriano's 38 in 2002 with the Yankees and 39 in 2006 with the Nationals.
RAY IN RESERVE Hard-throwing lefty Robbie Ray had a breakout season and would figure to start Game 1 against the Dodgers if Arizona advances. Lovullo, however, said he wouldn't hesitate to use Ray for an inning or two in the wild-card game if needed.
SURGING CENTER FIELDER A.J. Pollock came on strong at the end of the season after a subpar year at the plate. He batted .363 in September.
Sports on 10/04/2017