Rockies get first taste of the “opener” and it might expose them

It’s no secret that the Colorado Rockies lineup has been hyper-dependent on their big bats this season to find victories. By wRC+, only Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon, DJ LeMahieu and Trevor Story have been above average hitters, and naturally, have found themselves at the top of the lineup. As the Los Angeles Dodgers come into town looking to make up ground on the first-place Rockies, they will be taking an unorthodox approach to handling the late scratch of anticipated starter Kenta Maeda.

With Maeda on the disabled-list and another starter, Alex Wood, needing to be pushed back to Sunday with hamstring cramps, the normal way for Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts to fill the gap would be with one of their long relievers. Instead, the Dodgers will be taking a play out of the book of Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash, giving set up man Scott Alexander the first start of his MLB career.

Alexander is a short reliever who hasn’t thrown more than two innings in an outing since July 17 of last year and hasn’t started in professional baseball since 2016, when he made two starts out of 27 appearances in the minors. Before that, he hadn’t started since 2012 — a year he spent entirely between Rookie- and A-ball.

So why will he get the ball to start in the most notorious hitter’s park MLB has to offer?