Rockies, Tyler Chatwood look for early series win over D-backs

The Colorado Rockies are due for a decent pitching performance. Unfortunately, so are the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Both teams have allowed a total of 16 runs over the first two games of 2016. Starting pitching, in particular, has been an issue for each club in the early going.

The Rockies' No. 1 and No. 2 starters -- Jorge De La Rosa and Chad Bettis -- have gone toe-to-toe with the D-backs' top two hurlers. But in this case, that's not a good thing. De La Rosa and Bettis allowed 10 runs in 10 innings of work to open the series. Meanwhile, Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller have had problems of their own, surrendering 13 runs in 12 frames.

For the Rockies to pick up an early series win, Tyler Chatwood will have to be better than his rotation mates. Chatwood, who will be making his first major league start since April 29, 2014, will go head-to-head with Patrick Corbin, who is coming off of a strong partial season after missing a whole year himself. Corbin -- unlike Greinke and Miller -- has already mastered the art of pitching at Chase Field, entering Wednesday with a 2.99 ERA in 207⅔ career innings in the desert. Among starting pitchers who have thrown at least 200 innings at Chase Field, Corbin ranks second in ERA behind only Hall of Famer Randy Johnson (2.94) in D-backs history.

In short, the Rockies' offense, which deserves all the credit in the world after its performance during the first two games, might not have it so easy in Game 3.

First pitch is at 1:40 p.m. MT.

Lineups

How to watch, listen

TV: ROOT Sports, MLB.tv

Radio: 850 KOA, MLB.com