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Betancourt to undergo MRI with groin injury

DENVER -- Rockies closer Rafael Betancourt has been pitching and succeeding through right groin tightness since late April. But after two uncharacteristically uncompetitive pitches to the D-backs' Paul Goldschmidt in the top of the 10th inning Tuesday night, he knew the pain had caught up to him.

After being given a few pitches to test how he felt, Betancourt left the game, and Wilton Lopez entered and retired three batters. The Rockies won it on Wilin Rosario's single in the bottom of the 10th.

Betancourt, 10-for-10 on save chances and carrying a 1.56 ERA in 19 appearances, said he will undergo an MRI on Wednesday. He hopes that not pitching Wednesday and the team's off-day on Thursday will give him time to heal so he can avoid the 15-day disabled list. He is currently listed as day-to-day with the injury.

"It's not painful," Betancourt said. "It was feeling weird warming up. I always push a lot from that leg. I came into the game, bounced the first two pitches. Feel like weak. It was getting tight. That's all.

"I'm the kind of guy that it's hard for me to come out of the game. But I think it was the right move to do in that situation. Tomorrow, I get an MRI, but I think everything's going to be fine, and we'll go from there."

Lopez was given all the time he needed to warm up, but he didn't take long and dispatched of the D-backs' Goldschmidt on a grounder and Eric Chavez and Cody Ross on fly balls. The Ross fly ball was deep, but nowhere deep enough to cause a sweat. Lopez was done in four pitches.

Lopez threw 22 pitches in the 5-1 loss to the D-backs Monday night.

"I felt good, so coming in like that didn't bother me," Lopez said.

When the Rockies acquired Lopez in a trade from the Astros in December, they wanted him and left-hander Rex Brothers to be options when Betancourt isn't available. Both are pitching well. Brothers' scoreless ninth Tuesday was his 18th straight scoreless outing covering 17 innings. Lopez has pitched scoreless ball in 13 of his last 14 appearances.

Thomas Harding is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Hardball in the Rockies, and follow him on Twitter @harding_at_mlb.
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