The Colorado Rockies have welcomed four players from Triple-A this evening—but not exactly by design.
The Rockies announced today that RHP Yency Almonte, RHP Jhoulys Chacín, OF Yonathan Daza and RHP Antonio Senzatela have been placed on the IL, per MLB’s COVID and contact tracing protocols.
— Rockies Club Information (@RockiesClubInfo) July 16, 2021
Antonio Senzatela was originally scheduled to start against the Dodgers tonight, but he is inactive as are pitchers Yency Almonte and Jhoulys Chacín, and outfielder Yonathan Daza. Colorado will instead send Chi Chi González to the mound on short notice, and without the standard long-relief safety net of Chacín.
With four players inactive, the Rockies have reached out to Triple-A Albuquerque and have acquired subsequent reinforcement: three pitchers and one outfielder. Sam Hilliard, Ben Bowden, Antonio Santos, and Zac Rosscup will be in Rockies uniforms tonight.
In addition, the Rockies announced that Bud Black will not be available to manage tonight’s game, so bench coach Mike Redmond will cover managerial duties.
First base coach Ron Gideon will also be unavailable.
Additionally, the Rockies will be without Manager Bud Black and 1B Coach Ron Gideon per contact tracing protocols. For tonight’s game, Bench Coach Mike Redmond will assume managerial duties and Major League Data & Game Planning Coordinator Doug Bernier will serve as 1B Coach.
— Rockies Club Information (@RockiesClubInfo) July 16, 2021
Hilliard has recorded 37 at-bats with the big league club this year, posting a dreary .154/.324/.478 slash but turning things around in Triple-A (.242./329/.555). While Bowden has pitched 17 innings in the big leagues this year, his 7.94 ERA has done little to cement his status as a big leaguer. Santos holds a 2.25 ERA with the Rockies this year but has been limited to four MLB innings. Zac Rosscup has not thrown an MLB pitch since 2019; however, his 0.52 ERA in Albuquerque has been immaculate (17 1⁄3 IP).
This is not the first COVID interruption of the second half: On Thursday, the Red Sox and Yankees were forced to postpone their matchup.
Purple Row will continue to update this developing story.