D-backs' Weaver hopes for turnaround vs. Rockies

In three starts to begin the season, Weaver is 0-3 with a 12.19 ERA, quite a leap from his first year with Arizona last season. Weaver gets a chance to turn things around when the Diamondbacks take on the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday in the last of a three-game series in Denver.

Luke Weaver posted an ERA of 2.94 in 2019, so it might be a little surprising to see that the right-hander has struggled so far in 2020. In three starts to begin the season, Weaver is 0-3 with a 12.19 ERA, quite a leap from his first year with Arizona last season.

Weaver gets a chance to turn things around when the Diamondbacks take on the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday in the last of a three-game series in Denver. Arizona won the first game, 12-8, and Colorado bounced back to take Tuesday's game, 8-7. Weaver will face Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela (3-0, 2.65), who has helped Colorado's rotation put up strong numbers in the first two-plus weeks of the truncated season.

Senzatela will face an Arizona lineup that busted out against starter Jon Gray on Monday, but was held in check by Tuesday's starter, Kyle Freeland, before putting up five runs against Colorado's bullpen. Weaver will have the task of facing an offense that has scored three or more runs in 16 of the first 17 games of the season. The Rockies' offense is led by the hot hitting of Charlie Blackmon, who had three more hits Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to 15 games. He has six straight multi-hit games, and leads the majors with a .500 average.

"He's just unbelievable. He's probably the best hitter I've ever played with," said Nolan Arenado, who hit his fourth home run of the season Tuesday night. "These guys are tough lefties, and for Charlie to have the at-bats that he has, it's fun to watch. The zone you dream of is what he's in right now. I'm trying to learn something from him." Weaver is 1-1 with a 6.57 ERA in four games - three starts - in his career against Colorado. Both of those decisions have come at Coors Field, where he has made three of his four appearances.

Weaver allowed six earned runs in each of his first two starts this season and failed to pitch beyond the fourth inning in either. In his last outing, Friday at San Diego, he gave up two runs in three innings. "He's got elite stuff, no doubt about it," Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said recently. "But he may be missing in certain situations to create some traffic and then making a mistake in the middle of the zone. Today, that was the case for him. I don't think it's a lack of focus, I don't think it's a lack of stuff. I just think it's probably making some mistakes at the wrong time.

"We'll talk about that. We'll figure that out. We'll sit down as a group and try to figure out how to coach him up and do our jobs to make sure he gets better next time." Senzatela is 2-5 in 11 games - seven starts - in his career against the Diamondbacks. He is 2-4 with a 6.25 ERA as a starter against the Diamondbacks, and Colorado has won three of his past four starts against them. In three home starts, he is 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA.

--Field Level Media

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