Gonzalez leaves early with leg fatigue
Rockies OF goes 1-for-3 before exiting in 6th inning of win over Braves
DENVER -- Carlos Gonzalez, who sizzled as the Rockies won four times during a six-game homestand heading into the All-Star break, left Sunday's game with "leg fatigue" after taking an awkward step on the warning track while chasing Jonny Gomes' sixth-inning ground-rule double.
Gonzalez, who was 1-for-3 in the Rockies' 11-3 victory, went 7-for-15 with two home runs and three doubles in the four-game sweep of the Braves. Gonzalez finished the inning, but manager Walt Weiss removed him before the top of the seventh, after the Rockies opened a lead.
"Before the game I was a little tired today, and I talked to Walt," Gonzalez said. "After Tulo [shortstop Troy Tulowitzki] hit that three-run shot and put the game wide open, that was the perfect time to take that break."
Gonzalez took a poor route to the ball, leaped for the ball and landed gingerly on his right foot.
"I don't like to jump," he said with a smile.
Gonzalez missed much of last season because of two surgeries -- one to remove a benign tumor from his left index finger, the other to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee -- and is hitting .259 with 13 home runs and 35 RBIs. But since May 22, fully healthy and with the strength in his left leg increasing, Gonzalez has hit .305 (50 of 164) with nine home runs and 23 RBIs.