Colorado @ Cincinnati preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 19, 2011 ) Colorado 3, Cincinnati 10

THE STORY: It wasn’t that long ago that the Cincinnati Reds were in the thick of the race in the National League Central. But just as the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals began to take off, the Reds found themselves stuck in neutral. The Colorado Rockies can sympathize with a strong start and high expectations that now look like they will end in disappointment. The Rockies are struggling to keep together a pitching staff at this rate and are working to avoid the NL West basement. Cincinnati will be looking to put together back-to-back wins for the first time this month when it hosts Colorado in the opener of a four-game series on Monday night.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, ROOT (Colorado), FSOH (Cincinnati)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Reds RH Homer Bailey (6-5, 4.30 ERA) vs. Rockies RH Jason Hammel (6-11, 4.88 ERA).

Bailey is coming off his best outing of the season, an eight-inning effort at Houston last Tuesday in which he allowed one run on five hits to earn the win. The 25-year-old Texas native has earned the win in three of his last four turns. Bailey is 0-2 with a 5.74 ERA against Colorado in three career starts. Troy Tulowitzki has been the toughest to retire, going 5-for-7 with a pair of doubles and two RBIs against Bailey.

Hammel has been getting knocked around on a regular basis. After allowing six runs in five innings to suffer a loss against Philadelphia last Wednesday, Hammel has surrendered at least four earned runs in six of his last nine starts. The 28-year-old has never beaten Cincinnati, posting an 0-1 record with a 4.22 ERA in three career starts.

ABOUT THE REDS (55-59): Cincinnati snapped a three-game slide on Sunday with an 8-7 victory over the Chicago Cubs. The Reds have developed a nasty habit of playing up and down to their competition. After taking two of three from the Atlanta Braves from July 22-24, they lost four straight to the New York Mets. After finishing July with a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants, they started August by losing two of three to both the Cubs and the Houston Astros. Edgar Renteria, Todd Frazier and Drew Stubbs each homered on Sunday but it was Ryan Hanigan who drove in the winning run, singling home Frazier in the top of the eighth. The Reds remain 9 ½ games behind the Brewers in the Central.

ABOUT THE ROCKIES (53-62): Colorado followed a similar pattern to the Reds this season, jumping out with a strong April and then tapering off slowly. The fall has been more pronounced lately, with the Rockies dropping six of their last eight games to fall into fourth place in the NL West. The club suffered a crushing blow to the pitching staff on Friday when Juan Nicasio was hit in the head with a line drive and had to undergo surgery to repair a fractured vertebrae on Saturday. Colorado exploded for 15 runs in a win Saturday but was held to only two in a loss on Sunday. Tulowitzki has been on fire, however, batting .625 (10-for-16) over the last four games.

FINAL PITCH: Colorado is shuffling its pitching staff due to the short outing of Nicasio on Friday and his subsequent trip to the disabled list following neck surgery. Greg Reynolds was brought up on Saturday and sent back down following that game. Sunday brought Josh Roenicke, who will serve as the long man in the bullpen. The Rockies still have not decided who will take Nicasio’s rotation spot on Wednesday.