Houston @ Colorado preview
Coors Field
Last Meeting ( Jun 8, 2010 ) Houston 4, Colorado 3
The last time Felipe Paulino made an appearance at Coors Field, it was just over a year ago and he was coming out of the bullpen to make a spot start for the Houston Astros.
Paulino lasted four innings in spacious Coors Field, allowing seven earned runs and giving up homers to Ian Stewart and Todd Helton. He labored with 96 pitches in that outing and his team left with a 12-1 loss.
His opponent that day was Ubaldo Jimenez, who had ordinary numbers and, in fact, a higher ERA than Paulino entering the game.
Flash forward almost 13 months and Jimenez is now 11-1 and appears set to run away with the National League Cy Young Award.
Paulino, meanwhile, is 1-7 with a 4.01 ERA, although his numbers of late have been deceiving. He will start the third game of the four-game set tonight against Rockies right-hander Aaron Cook.
Houston left fielder Carlos Lee drove in the winning run in the eighth inning in Tuesday’s 4-3 comeback victory over Colorado. Lee went 3-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to nine games. He has three homers, two doubles and eight RBIs during the hitting streak.
The bulky Paulino, who weighs almost 275 pounds, has been a bit of an enigma this season. He hasn’t been hit particularly hard, giving up no more than eight hits in any outing, yet he started 0-7 because he has the lowest run support of any National League pitcher at 2.14 per game.
He got his first win in his last start Friday against the Chicago Cubs, throwing eight innings and allowing one run on five hits. That was his second straight start throwing eight innings. On May 30, he threw eight scoreless innings, allowing just four hits with five strikeouts while receiving a no-decision.
In his last two starts, he has a microscopic ERA of 0.56, allowing just one earned run in 16 innings.
Paulino already has thrown 67 1/3 innings and is averaging almost 110 pitches per outing. That is a concern for the Astros, even with a big right-hander like Paulino.
Another concern could be Rockies right fielder Brad Hawpe, who is 7-for-15 against the Astros this season and 4-for-6 with three walks against Paulino.
The Rockies will counter with the 31-year-old Cook, their oldest starting pitcher and their highest-paid pitcher as well with a $9.65 million salary this season.
Cook has been up and down this season but mostly up at home, where he is 2-0 with a 2.63 ERA. In his career against the Astros, he is 4-1 with a 3.86 ERA.