Colorado Rockies game no. 77 thread: Merrill Kelly vs. Carson Palmquist

Can Palmquist develop his snake charming skills?

It was a classic Coors Field game on Friday, one that featured plenty of offense and not great pitching, which always seems to be the case when the Colorado Rockies (17-59) and Arizona Diamondbacks (38-37) get together in Denver.

Carson Palmquist (0-4, 7.76 ERA) is still trying to find his footing at the major league level. After six starts, the rookie lefty has allowed 24 runs on 31 hits over 26 ²⁄₃ innings of work. Command has been a major issue for him as he’s allowed 16 free passes compared to just 18 strikeouts. He has averaged 19.84 pitches per inning and has a 0.49 groundout/airout ratio. He’s allowed 10.46 H/9, meaning he’s going to have to be careful and induce more groundouts because the Diamondbacks hitters are itching to swing the bat and will make plenty of contact.

Veteran righty Merrill Kelly (6-3, 3.41 ERA) takes the hill for the Diamondbacks. It’s been business as usual for Kelly this season as he has 86 strikeouts against 22 walks in 87 innings of work. He had a rough month of May but has settled in nicely in June, even though he gave up four runs on seven hits in his last outing. Still, in his last outing against the Rockies in Arizona, Kelly delivered seven shutout innings and allowed just one hit and three walks with 11 strikeouts. Will he replicate that performance, or can the Rockies’ bats stay alive?

First Pitch: 7:10 p.m. MT

TV: Rockies.tv

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

Lineups:

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