Bruised knee causes Fowler to exit early

DENVER -- Rockies center fielder Dexter Fowler injured his left knee when he tried to steal second in the first inning of Monday's 6-1 win over the Giants.

Fowler, who is day to day with what the team called a left lateral knee bruise, led off the first with a single to left and was caught stealing as he slid into second base. He left after the end of the first inning.

"Dexter hurt his knee sliding into second," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said after the game. "Pretty sore, so we'll check him out tomorrow. But he was very sore."

Charlie Blackmon replaced Fowler in center field and at the top of the order in the second, proving to be more than an effective replacement when he lined a solo homer over the right-field wall to lead off the third and hand the Rockies a 3-0 lead.

Fowler was hitless in his previous 13 at-bats, a streak spanning four games, before that first inning single. On the year, he's hitting .263 with 12 homers, 42 RBIs and a .368 on-base percentage.

Fowler missed 14 games from late June to mid-July with a right wrist injury, the only significant stretch of time he's missed this year.