DENVER -- Two days of Rockies euphoria were interrupted when rookie closer Seth Halvorsen hung his head after a ninth-inning pitch on Saturday, then left the mound with a right elbow injury.
“It don’t look good,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “It’s his elbow. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”
Halvorsen, 25, was assigned to finish off Saturday’s 8-5 victory over the Pirates. In a count 2-2 against ninth-inning leadoff man Spencer Horwitz. Halvorsen froze after throwing a 99 mph fastball that missed. Head athletic trainer Keith Dugger and Schaeffer talked to Halvorsen, who quickly left the field.
Halvorsen’s emergence as closer this season, with 11 saves in 14 attempts, was such that contending teams approached the Rockies before Thursday’s Trade Deadline. General manager Bill Schmidt resisted, believing Halvorsen could be a bullpen leader.
Now there is uncertainty. Halvorsen underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019 as a freshman at the University of Missouri. He eventually transferred to Tennessee and showed promise as a reliever. Because he was a fifth-year senior, the Rockies were able to select him in the seventh round in 2023 -- but club officials believed he would be in the Majors quickly. He made it last August.
Schaeffer said, “He was saying something awhile back, but he’s been good for awhile.”
The injury meant righty Dugan Darnell, who pitched one year at Division III Adrian College in Michigan and two years of independent ball before signing with the Rockies in February 2021, completed the game. He finished the walk to Horwitz, forced a double-play grounder from Isiah Kiner-Falefa, then yielded Liover Peguero’s third homer of the game.
Darnell, who earned the win in Friday night’s wild affair, worked an Andrew McCutchen grounder to finish the game.
“The team needed me right there, so I just needed to get three outs,” Darnell said. “I could have been a little better execution-wise. I was stretched and ready to go, regardless. I hate to see Seth go down, but I had a job to do at the end of the day and I took it very seriously.”