The Colorado Rockies don’t have a postseason on the horizon, but they do have motivation to finish strongly.
Charlie Blackmon, who has played his entire 14-year career with Colorado, on Monday announced his retirement, effective at the conclusion of this season. He has five games remaining with the Rockies (60-97) after going 2-for-3 with an RBI triple in Tuesday’s 7-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals (80-77).
The second contest of the three-game series will be Wednesday night in Denver. St. Louis right-hander Erick Fedde (8-9, 3.38 ERA) will oppose former Cardinals pitcher Austin Gomber (5-11, 4.67).
Fedde will make his sixth appearance against the Rockies and his first with St. Louis. His previous five outings against them came when he was with the Washington Nationals, and he made his major league debut against Colorado on July 30, 2017.
Fedde is 1-2 with a 6.30 ERA in his previous five appearances and is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in three games — two starts — at Coors Field. In his last start against the Rockies, he allowed just one run over seven innings to get the win on May 3, 2022.
Fedde will make his 10th start with the Cardinals since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox before the July 31 trade deadline. He was one of the bright spots for Chicago, going 7-4 with a 3.11 ERA in 21 starts. He hasn’t been as successful with St. Louis, however, going 1-5 with a 4.07 ERA.
Fedde had his best start in nearly a month when he held Pittsburgh to a run over six innings on Thursday, but St. Louis lost 3-2.
“There’s still some room to improve on my movement,” Fedde said.
Gomber is coming off a rough start against Arizona last Wednesday when he allowed six runs (five earned) in two innings. It was his shortest start of the season and came after three quality starts in a row, including a win over Atlanta on Sept. 5 when he allowed one run and struck out six over eight innings.
Wednesday will mark the first time in his career that Gomber has made 30 starts in a season, and it comes against the team that dealt him to Colorado in the Nolan Arenado deal in February 2021. The left-hander has made five appearances (three starts) against the Cardinals and is 1-1 with a 6.55 ERA.
The focus will be on Blackmon, who is the longest-tenured player on the Rockies’ roster. He has played his entire career with the team and is second in franchise history to Hall of Famer Todd Helton in games (1,619), hits (1,799) and doubles (334), and he is first in triples with 68.
“I think I’m making the right decision, and that makes things a little bit easier, in the sense that I don’t have to wonder if this is right or wrong, but at the same time, it’s definitely going to be difficult stepping away,” Blackmon told reporters on Tuesday. “I came into this season eyes wide open knowing that this very well could be my last go-around.”
