Wildness and weather have prevented the Rockies from getting a lot of action early on from starter Jhoulys Chacin. He'll look to eat up some innings this evening when Colorado plays the first of three in a row against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The 24-year-old Chacin has logged just eight innings over his first two starts, walking eight in that span. Five of those came in his season-opening loss to the Giants on April 9 in a four-inning start.
A rain delay then knocked the right-hander out of his last outing on Saturday against the Diamondbacks. Chacin had yielded a run on four hits and three walks in four innings before his exit, getting a no-decision.
Chacin has faced the Brewers just once before and got a no-decision after allowing five runs over 6 1/3 innings.
The Rockies hit the road for the first time since losing two of three to begin the season at Houston on April 6-7. They recorded an 8-4 win on Wednesday against the Padres, their second straight victory that allowed them to wrap a nine-game homestand at 5-4.
Jonathan Herrera and Michael Cuddyer both clubbed two-run homers in the win, though Cuddyer left the game in the sixth inning due to a bruised left big toe. He is hitting .370 with two homers and eight RBI, and manager Jim Tracy could opt to give Cuddyer another day of rest tonight.
Juan Nicasio picked up his first victory since returning from a broken neck suffered when he was hit in the head by a line drive on Aug. 5 at home. He allowed four runs over 6 1/3 innings against the Padres.
"I really think as we go along here we're going to see Juan Nicasio get even better with his secondary pitches and once we get to that point, it'll be a very interesting pitcher to watch," Tracy said.
Colorado will take its swings tonight against Milwaukee's Shaun Marcum, who has split his first two decisions and is coming off a loss in Atlanta on Saturday.
Marcum, though, may have pitched better in defeat than he did in beating the Cubs on April 9, when he allowed three runs on five hits -- including two homers -- over six innings. The 30-year-old righty dropped a 2-1 decision to the Braves, getting charged with two runs over seven frames.
Marcum is 2-1 with a 4.74 ERA in his career versus the Rockies.
The Brewers took two of three from the red-hot Dodgers to begin this week, but failed to secure a sweep after losing Thursday's encounter 4-3. Milwaukee had won the first contests in its final at-bat.
Travis Ishikawa drove in two runs for Milwaukee, while Randy Wolf gave up four runs over six innings.
"We didn't swing the bats as well today as we did in the first two games," said Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke.
The Brewers won six of nine versus the Rockies last season, winning four of five at home.
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