Key Rockies starting pitcher leaves game with arm injury after returning from injured list

Never say, “It can’t get any worse.” It always can — and for the Rockies on Wednesday afternoon in Cleveland, it did.

Making his return from a stint on the injured list, pitcher Germán Márquez left after feeling pain in his right triceps during the fourth inning of a 4-1 loss to the Guardians.

It was Márquez’s first start since a stint on the injured list due to forearm inflammation. The Rockies activated Márquez on Tuesday night, designating struggling starter Jose Ureña in order to make room.

#Rockies German Marquez on his arm injury. pic.twitter.com/mQLz7SqOEF

— Patrick Saunders (@psaundersdp) April 26, 2023

“It was pain. I couldn’t keep going,” Márquez told media after the game. I’m going to get an MRI tomorrow and we’ll see.”

Márquez told The Denver Post that he did not know whether his forearm issues and the triceps pain were connected.

When Márquez felt the pain, he dropped to his knees and squatted on the mound as Rockies medical personnel arrived. Márquez went directly to the clubhouse.

But it might not have been as bad as feared. An initial examination did not show any damage.

“The Cleveland (team) doctor saw him and was encouraged,” manager Bud Black told The Denver Post. “We’ll see. But it’s in a different spot, which is good, overall, from what the medical people have told me.

“… But you never know.”

The Rockies are expected to welcome starter Antonio Senzatela back to the rotation in the coming days. He made a rehab start for AAA Albuquerque on Tuesday night. Senzatela’s next rehab start is scheduled for Sunday.

But the Rockies might be able to bridge a gap between another Márquez IL stint and Senzatela being ready. They have an off-day Thursday and another on Monday between home series against Arizona and Milwaukee.

So, in the short term, the Rockies can fill a gap until Senzatela is ready. But in the long term, their rotation could take a hit if Márquez’s absence becomes an extended one.

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