DENVER -- Right fielder Carlos Gonzalez sprained his right wrist swinging in the eighth inning of the Rockies' 7-6 loss to the D-backs on Thursday night, but striking out with the bases loaded hurt him more than the injury.
The Rockies had scored three times in the inning to tie the score at 6, but D-backs reliever Brad Ziegler fanned Gonzalez and Trevor Story, and Nick Ahmed would give the D-backs the victory with a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth.
Gonzalez's status is best classified as day to day, and he hopes his next outing is more productive than this one, in which he went 1-for-5. He bounced to the mound with two on in the fifth before fanning on his biggest chance.
"I just had a bad day offensively," said Gonzalez, who is hitting .310 with 15 home runs and 38 RBIs and receiving All-Star consideration, with 780,290 votes -- seventh-most among National League outfielders -- as of the most recent update. "I had so many opportunities in front of me. I didn't get the job done. It's just one of those games. It's a bad day overall."
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Gonzalez is 0-for-5 with four walks against Ziegler, who pitches him low, usually away, and often carefully (four walks, one intentional). With the count 1-2, Ziegler delivered a 76-mph changeup that Gonzalez thought he could put in play, until the pitch's movement beat him.
"That last pitch was just running away," said Gonzalez, who was replaced in the field by Brandon Barnes in a double-switch in the top of the ninth. "I saw it on the [outside] corner, and the more I tried to keep my swing closed, the more the ball was just going away from me."
What hurt Gonzalez more was the first pitch, a sinker that didn't sink.
"I knew he had that sinker," he said. "But that ball didn't do much. It stayed flat. Usually, when you see his ball down, it's going to go more down. But that ball stayed up. I took it and said, 'Wow.'"