Lindsay Update; Pitch Limit Stymies Rogers

Esmil Rogers had a joyous, nearly ecstatic start Wednesday night for Double-A Tulsa, not long after reliever Shane Lindsay left the mound with an injury not believed to be serious.

Lindsay left the first game of a doubleheader at Arkansas with tightness in his right foream. He took the mound in the sixth, struck out the first batter he faced and then signaled to trainer Austin O’Shea.

Player development director Marc Gustafson said Lindsay had no pain after the game and was examined by an Arkansas doctor, who detected no ligament damage. Gustafson said O’Shea believed Lindsay was dealing with a cramp.

Converted to relieving this season, Lindsay, 24, is 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA in 12 games, having allowed eight hits and eight walks in 12 2/3 innings with 18 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .182 against Lindsay.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Rogers pitched six hitless innings and left a scoreless game after throwing 93 pitches with three walks and six strikeouts. The Drillers lost the game 1-0 in the seventh, an inning Rogers never saw, Gustafson said, because he was on a 100-pitch limit. The Rockies organization would have loved to have seen Rogers, 23, have a chance to throw a no-hitter, but the decision by Tulsa manager Stu Cole and pitching coach Bryan Harvey to pull Rogers was made because with career implications in mind.

Rogers, a converted shortstop who began pitching in 2006, is 0-1 with a 4.62 ERA in five starts for Tulsa. He has allowed 27 hits but just one home run in 25 1/3 innings with five walks and 26 strikeouts.

and everyone in the Rockies organization would have loved to have seen Rogers, 23, have a chance