Phillies, visiting Rockies, embark on rest of the season without their closer

Fresh off their third straight victory, the Philadelphia Phillies will be without their closer on Monday when they open a four-game series against the Colorado Rockies in Denver.

Actually, they will be without him a lot longer than that.

Jose Alvarado was suspended for 80 games and is ineligible for the playoffs after testing positive for a substance that is banned under MLB's performance-enhancing drugs policy, the league announced Sunday. It leaves a big hole at the back of Philadelphia's bullpen and is a blow to its championship aspirations.

"We've got to move on," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said after his team's 1-0 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday. "It's too bad, but we've got to move on. We have really good pieces here that can pick up the slack."

That begins on the mound as Cristopher Sanchez (4-1, 2.91 ERA) will face off against Kyle Freeland (0-6, 6.15) in a matchup of left-handers on Monday night.

Philadelphia can do some scouting in Denver this week against a Rockies team that could be selling parts before the trade deadline. Colorado already has made major changes by firing manager Bud Black but things haven't gotten much better under interim manager Warren Schaeffer.

The Rockies fell to a majors-worst 8-38 on the season after going 1-5 on their road trip that wrapped up in Arizona on Sunday. Colorado had a chance to win its first series of the season when it loaded the bases with one out in the ninth trailing 1-0, but a popout and lineout ended the game.

"I thought we battled this whole road trip," Schaeffer said after the series-ending loss. "Just a couple of hits from winning some games, and if we keep playing like that, Rockies fans are going to see some wins coming."

Monday will be Schaeffer's debut at home since taking over as interim manager.

Colorado, which has been shut out seven times this season, is on pace to win just 28 games. Things get tougher with the next 13 games against teams sitting in first or second place in their respective divisions.

Freeland is coming off his fourth quality start of the season but has yet to turn it into a victory. One of those quality starts came in Philadelphia on April 2, which was his second outing of the season. He allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings in a game the Rockies lost 5-1.

In nine career starts against the Phillies, he is 2-4 with a 3.59 ERA.

Sanchez is facing Colorado for the fifth time in his career and is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA. He opened his season against the Rockies, a 6-1 Philadelphia win on March 31, but got a no-decision despite allowing one run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Sanchez has pitched at least five innings in seven of his eight starts. His shortest outing was on April 22 at the New York Mets when he was pulled after two innings due to left forearm tightness and took his only loss of the year. He made his next start eight days later and has won the past two decisions.

--Field Level Media