Colorado Rockies: Tyler Anderson’s scratch brings questions to the rotation

Jon Gray of the Colorado Rockies may be pitching for his season tonight as his start was moved up a day.

For those who haven’t heard yet, Colorado Rockies starter Tyler Anderson was scratched from his scheduled start against the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night due to a sore shoulder.

This could carry huge ramifications for the Colorado rotation with seven games remaining in the season and the Rockies fighting for their playoff lives.

The last time Gray started a game, the results were rather unpleasant to put it mildly. Against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 17, Gray went just two innings, giving up six earned runs on seven hits, including two home runs, walking two and striking out only one batter in the Rockies’ 8-2 loss to the now-NL West division leader. This led manager Bud Black to skip Gray’s next scheduled start against the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend.

Black had shuffled the rotation to allow Kyle Freeland and German Marquez to be available in case of a possible Game 163 and/or the one-game Wild Card berth. Now with the scratch of Anderson, the rotation is now influx.

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Gray will now be auditioning for another start tonight. If all goes well and Gray pitches like the “Gray Wolf” that we all know and expect from him, he will be in line for an even more important start this weekend against the Nationals with the playoffs, hopefully, still on the line.

If Gray struggles tonight, throw everything out the window. Gray would more than likely not see the mound again this season. That could lead to the Rockies going to a four-man or even a three-man rotation depending on the health of Anderson’s shoulder to finish out the season.

If Anderson is not ready to go in a couple of days, we could possibly see two more starts by both Marquez and Freeland to end the season, leaving a huge question mark as to who they would send out to the mound if they happen to extend the season.

It all may come down to how Gray performs tonight. Stay tuned as this final week just got even more interesting.