Hale to start Friday as Flande's injury lingers

DENVER -- Righty David Hale will start for the Rockies Friday night against the Dodgers in place of left-hander Yohan Flande, who was hit on the left knee by a line drive from the Padres' Jedd Gyorko during his last start.

Hale (4-5, 6.32 ERA in 15 games, 10 starts) has made three relief appearances this month and given up seven runs on 12 hits in 8 1/3 innings. He will be the second replacement starter this week. Righty Christian Bergman will step in Wednesday for lefty Jorge De La Rosa, who has been bothered with right Achilles' tendon soreness.

Flande said he felt better but not good enough to pitch this turn through the rotation. He has not been cleared for weight-bearing activity.

Worth noting

• Rockies manager Walt Weiss said rookie righty Jon Gray, who gave up five runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings of Monday night's 9-3 loss to the Pirates, needs to take heed of the lessons he is learning and not become frustrated. Gray said afterward that he needs to learn to pitch at Coors Field, where his stuff might not break as sharply.

"There's a lot of things to learn with a September callup," Weiss said. "His stuff plays everywhere. There's no doubt about that. That's not a concern. He just didn't make pitches last night and got hurt when he didn't.

"You got to keep him focused on executing pitches. It doesn't matter where you are. A well-located pitch works anywhere. We have plenty of examples over the years. You can get frustrated in any park. There are other offensive parks in this league, some parks more forgiving than others, but it all comes down to executing pitches."

• Right-hander Tyler Chatwood, who has not appeared with the Rockies this season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, will pitch in the fall instructional program and in the Dominican instructional program just before Spring Training. Chatwood made two Minor League rehab starts at Class A Modesto and appeared in the South Atlantic League playoffs for Class A Asheville.