Mound Woes: Jon Gray On Injured List, Kyle Freeland Departs in 2nd Inning Wednesday

The Rockies took another hit on their rotation Wednesday.

Having placed right-hander Jon Gray on the Injured List with right forearm tightness Wednesday morning, the Rockies removed Kyle Freeland after he walked the leadoff hitter in the second inning at Texas on Wednesday afternoon.

Kyle went into Wednesday’s game having gone 4-0 in five August starts — the Rockies winning all five of the games — and a 3.41 ERA for the five games.

Justin Lawrence joined the team for September along with fellow right-handed pitchers Antonio Santos and Julian Fernandez from Triple-A Albuquerque. While teams can only add two players to their rosters in September this year, the Rockies added a third to fill the opening created by Gray being placed on the Injured List.

Gray came out of his start on Saturday against the Dodgers after two innings because of the forearm tightness. The Rockies held out hope Gray would bounce back and available for his normal start Thursday at Coors Field against the Braves, but after a bullpen session on Tuesday the decision was made to place Gray on the injured list.

Adding to the Rockies challenges in the final days of the season, the Wednesday game at Texas was the sixth game of what is a stretch of 17 games in 17 days. Chi Chi Gonzalez would seem likely to fill one of the rotation openings/