Weiss talks decision to remove Gray; McGee's struggles

DENVER — Rockies manager Walt Weiss drew criticism in last night’s game against the Phillies when he elected to remove Jon Gray in the top of the seventh inning and replace him with former closer Jake McGee, who immediately relinquished the Rockies lead.

With runners on first and third and Colorado holding a 2-0 lead, McGee gave up a single before Tommy Joseph hit a 420-foot bomb to left.

Today, Weiss said his decision to remove Gray, who had up to that point allowed only three hits and two walks while striking out eight, was based on Gray putting more effort into his pitches after jamming his ankle rounding third base in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“I saw more effort in his delivery,” Weiss said. “The four-pitch walk to start the inning got my attention. Especially the nature of it, with a lot of big misses.”

On his decision to replace Gray with McGee, Weiss said he felt “Really, really good” about McGee coming into the high-leverage situation.

It was another disappointing appearance in what has been a shaky season for McGee. Last night marked his third blown save on the season, and his ERA is sitting at 5.47. A big portion of the problem has been that McGee is relying on use of his slider, while his usual bread-and-butter pitch is the fastball.

“I think we started to see the McGee that we expected. Right before the injury we saw the climb in velocity. It’s almost like with the time out he’s started over again,” Weiss said about the reliever’s difficulties.

“I think that’s what we’re seeing right now. He even told us at the beginning of the year that typically it takes about a month before we start seeing the big velocity. I think we’re seeing that. He’s getting built back up again.”