(SportsNetwork.com) - Right-hander Dylan Axelrod makes his Cincinnati debut on Saturday night when the Reds visit Coors Field for the third of four games with the Colorado Rockies.
Axelrod steps into the rotation slot of Homer Bailey, whom the Reds said earlier this week would go to the disabled list with a strained right elbow.
Axelrod spent three seasons with the Chicago White Sox and made 48 appearances on the big league level, including 30 starts. He won seven of 20 decisions and posted a 5.36 earned run average for the White Sox in the majors and spent the initial portion of 2014 at Triple-A Charlotte before becoming Reds property after a July 17 trade.
He was 6-7 in 16 starts at Charlotte and has since gone 2-1 with a 3.06 ERA in five starts at Cincinnati's Triple-A affiliate in Louisville.
He has never faced Colorado and could be helped by the return of offensive firepower in the form of Todd Frazier and Devin Mesoraco, who share the team lead with 20 home runs. Neither started Friday -- Frazier thanks to a sore back and Mesoraco because of a scheduled rest day.
The Rockies have won just four times in 19 games.
Jordan Lyles gets the call for the third time since he missed a month with a fracture in his left hand. In two starts since coming back, he's 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA.
In five career meetings with the Reds, Lyles is 3-1 with a 5.22 ERA, including an 11-2 win on May 10 in which he allowed two runs in six innings.
On Friday, Kristopher Negron's ninth-inning single scored Ramon Santiago with the winning run, as Cincinnati clipped Colorado, 3-2.
Negron finished 4-for-4, while Jay Bruce and Santiago knocked in a run each for the Reds, who avenged a 7-3 loss in Thursday's opener and halted a three- game losing streak overall.
Johnny Cueto (15-6) struck out six over eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits. Aroldis Chapman shut the door in the ninth to pick up his 26th save.
Nolan Arenado homered and Corey Dickerson drove in the other run for the Rockies, who have dropped seven of their last nine.
Adam Ottavino (0-4) was charged with the deciding run on two hits over 1 1/3 relief frames.
Colorado used six pitchers in Friday's game after scheduled starter Franklin Morales was scratched.
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