Colorado Rockies vs Los Angeles Dodgers: Chad Bettis makes his 2015 debut

Chad Bettis will get the start for the Colorado today against former Rockie Brett Anderson and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Bettis posted a 3.97 ERA in six starts with the Albuquerque Isotopes before joining the Rockies yesterday in L.A. Bettis will step into the rotation in place of a struggling Tyler Matzek who was optioned to Albuquerque late last week.

Bettis relies primarily on a fourseam fastball, sinker, and slider. He also throws a changeup that works well as a strikeout pitch, resulting just over 21% of the time in a swing and miss. The young right hander appeared in 21 games for the Rockies last season, all from the bullpen. Bettis has not started a regular season game for the Rockies since 2013. He will face a hot hitting Dodger lineup tonight, headlined by early-season standouts Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier and Howie Kendrick.

To make room for Bettis on the 25-man roster, the Rockies placed righty reliever, Brooks Brown, on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation, retroactive to May 4th.

Brett Anderson is 2-1 this year with a 3.52 ERA. His last outing was a five inning complete game against the Rockies on Friday that was called on account of rain. Anderson allowed six hits and one unearned run in what has been his only start against Colorado this season. Left handed batters have given Anderson trouble early on, batting .375 to the righties’ .275.

The Rockies know what they are up against in Anderson; an extreme groundball pitcher whose entire arsenal has potential to fall off the table. The southpaw has laid off of his fourseam fastball considerably this year, throwing his sinker and changeup at a higher clip than before. Anderson’s velocity tops out in the low 90s with his fastball, but can get down into the mid 70s on his knuckle curve.

Justin Morneau is not in the starting lineup for the Rockies tonight. Morneau exited last night’s game early on account of dizziness.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Update on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockies?src=hash">#Rockies</a> Morneau. Felt dizzy after diving for the ball, but should be OK. A precaution, given his concussion history.</p>&mdash; Patrick Saunders (@psaundersdp) <a href="https://twitter.com/psaundersdp/status/598730296826015744">May 14, 2015</a></blockquote>

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Wilin Rosario will get the start at first base in place of Morneau, who is still available off the bench. The Rockies bench has been shorted to four men, with utility man Rafael Ynoa being optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to make room for Yohan Flande.

Tom Runnels will take over managerial duties for the next few days while Walt Weiss recovers from an appendectomy. We wish a speedy recovery to the Rockies’ skipper.

Here's how the Rockies and Dodgers will lineup for tonight's contest at Dodger Stadium.
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<h3>Today's Lineups</h3>

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<th align="left">COLORADO ROCKIES</th>

<th align="left">LOS ANGELES DODGERS</th>

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<tr><td class="td-last td-name">Charlie Blackmon - CF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Joc Pederson - CF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Carlos Gonzalez - RF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Jimmy Rollins - SS</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Troy Tulowitzki - SS</td><td class="td-first td-name">Adrian Gonzalez - 1B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Nolan Arenado - 3B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Howie Kendrick - 2B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Wilin Rosario - 1B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Scott Van Slyke - LF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Corey Dickerson - LF</td><td class="td-first td-name">Yasmani Grandal - C</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Nick Hundley - C</td><td class="td-first td-name">Andre Ethier - RF</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">DJ LeMahieu - 2B</td><td class="td-first td-name">Juan Uribe - 3B</td></tr><tr><td class="td-last td-name">Chad Bettis - RHP</td><td class="td-first td-name">Brett Anderson - LHP</td></tr></tbody>

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