Time: 08:10 P.M. EST Venue: Coors Field
DENVER -- The Colorado Rockies are facing an imminent decision regarding Chad Qualls. He has been ill with a virus and last pitched July 15. Qualls was unavailable Friday night as was Adam Ottavino, who had pitched in back-to-back games for the first time since coming back from Tommy John surgery in May 2015. So manager Walt Weiss turned to Jason Motte to start the eighth. Motte threw 32 pitches Thursday night but that was after being off the two previous days. Referring to the possibility of Qualls going on the disabled list, a move that could be made retroactive to last Saturday, Rockies manager Walt Weiss said, "He's been pretty sick. That's a conversation we need to have as we look toward these next couple days -- if he's going to be available or not. You can only go short so long especially the way we've been using our 'pen." Rookie left-hander Tyler Anderson will start Saturday and try to minimize the load on the bullpen. He's 2-3 with a 3.43 in his first seven career starts. Five of those games have been at Coors Field, where Anderson is 2-1 with a 3.26 ERA. In 30 1/3 innings in those games at Coors Field, Anderson has seven walks and 29 strikeouts. Coors Field can be a demon to a young Rockies pitcher, trying to gain his footing in the majors. For example, Jon Gray had trouble pitching there last season after being recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque but has thrived at Coors Field this year. And Eddie Butler, who is starting at Albuquerque and went 2-5 with a 6.96 ERA in 12 games, nine starts, with the Rockies this season, has never settled in at Coors Field. To his credit, Anderson is faring just fine at Coors Field, giving him one less thing to worry about at the outset of his career. He's coming off a Coors Field win in his last start Monday against Tampa Bay in which he allowed four runs in 6 1/3 innings in the Rockies' 7-4 victory." Just the biggest thing to pitching here from all the guys that I've talked to and everything we stress is not having walks," Anderson said. "You can see, my last start, I gave up the most runs (four) and I had also the most walks (3)." Those two correlate, especially at this field because usually you can give up a couple base hits and the guy doesn't score. But here a lot of balls make it to the wall, because there's so much ground out there that the guys score from first (on a double) all the time. So I think just eliminating walks is the biggest thing." The Rockies have won eight straight games against the Braves at Coors Field and 12 of their past 14 overall against the Braves. Matt Wisler, who will oppose Anderson, is 4-9 with a 4.67 ERA in 19 games, 18 starts. In his last outing Monday at Cincinnati, Wisler lost 8-2 and allowed eight hits and six runs, five earned, in five innings. In 11 starts on the road this season, Wisler is 1-6 with a 4.33 ERA. The Braves expect to know more Saturday about their ace Julio Teheran, who left Friday's game in the fifth inning with tightness in the latissimus dorsi muscles on the right side of his back. The Braves are likely to wait a day or two before deciding whether it will be necessary to put Teheran on the 15-day disabled list. Teheran said he felt discomfort in his lat while throwing a pitch in the third inning but thought he could make it through five innings. He felt something again in the lat while facing Mark Reynolds to lead off the fifth and left the game after his infield single. Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said he hopes Teheran could return within a few days." Hopefully, it's all clear, but we'll see," Teheran said. "We'll take it day-by-day, and hopefully I don't have to miss a start or anything like that."
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