challenged one, if not both, of the calls made in the bottom half of the eighth inning<\/a>.<\/p>\nOne bright spot in the loss Sunday afternoon was the performance of a former longtime starter in Colorado’s rotation.<\/p>\n
Antonio Senzatela entered spring training focusing on a two-seam sinker grip to replace his four-seam fastball, which had been getting hit frequently. He consistently threw between 96 and 98 mph on his fastball throughout spring training, showing improvements in his slider and changeup.<\/p>\n
On Sunday afternoon, he had the chance to test his new pitching style in a more critical role for the Rockies, who were ahead in the game. Colorado’s right-handed pitcher was outstanding, throwing 2.2 innings, conceding only one hit and one walk while striking out three batters.<\/p>\n
If you recall, Senza underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023 and has not been quite the same since. Utilizing him in a long-relief, low-leverage role could be beneficial for both him, as he continues to refine his pitches and pitch mix, and for the team as a whole.<\/p>\n
Senzatela posted a 7.42 ERA as a starter last season, but he performed much better after being moved to the bullpen, where he had an impressive 2.86 ERA in relief.<\/p>\n
Perhaps this is a sign of positive things ahead for Colorado’s veteran, who is set to earn $10.1 million this season, making him the third-highest-paid player on the team.<\/p>\n
It is unclear if Senzatela will have the opportunity to earn a place in the starting rotation again. However, it is encouraging to see how some refined adjustments and a new role have positively impacted his performance so far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There have been a few positives early on in the 2026 season for the Rockies, but they just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652461,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2405],"tags":[5,167,52,4316,4,168],"class_list":{"0":"post-652460","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-rockies","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-rockies","11":"tag-coloradorockies","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-rockies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116318397104010358","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}