Lucas Harrell goes after his third straight win this evening when the Houston Astros continue a four-game set with the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Harrell won for the third time in four decisions with an impressive showing against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, as he allowed a run and five hits in 7 1/3 innings to up his record to 4-3 on the year, while lowering his earned run average to 3.72.
"When I get a lot of contact is when I go deeper into the game," said Harrell, who worked into the eighth for the first time in his career. "Today I made it into the eighth inning, and when I get contact that's really good for me. Strikeouts are nice, but I hope that I don't get a lot."
Harrell, who did not record a strikeout his last time out, threw seven scoreless innings to beat the Rockies on April 7 and is 1-1 in two starts against them with a 2.70 ERA.
Colorado, meanwhile, will hand the ball to rookie left-hander Christian Friedrich, who is 2-1 with a 5.09 ERA. Friedrich beat the Cincinnati Reds on Friday, holding them to three runs and seven hits in five innings. He also struck out six and walked a batter.
"It's a competitive effort from Christian Friedrich, but it could be better," Colorado manager Jim Tracy said. "As he goes forward, we'll want to see it get better."
Friedrich has given up 11 earned runs in his last 10 innings.
These teams kicked off this series with a rare scheduled doubleheader on Monday before having an off-day on Tuesday. The Rockies managed to take both ends of the double-dip, winning the opener by a 9-7 score and capturing the nightcap, 7-6, in 10 innings.
"It's a wonderful Memorial Day. I'll tell you that," Tracy said of his team's sweep.
Houston took two of three from Colorado earlier in the year after the Rockies won last year's season series, 5-2.
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