Rockies face the Reds after Gray’s strong showing

Cincinnati Reds (41-47, fifth in the NL Central) vs. Colorado Rockies (45-45, third in the NL West)

Denver; Saturday, 8 p.m. EDT

PITCHING PROBABLES: Reds: Tanner Roark (5-6, 3.51 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 92 strikeouts) Rockies: Kyle Freeland (2-6, 7.13 ERA)

BOTTOM LINE: Colorado heads into the matchup fresh off a strong showing by Jon Gray. Gray went seven innings, surrendering two runs on four hits with six strikeouts against Cincinnati.

The Rockies are 25-19 on their home turf. Colorado has hit 117 home runs as a team this season. Nolan Arenado leads them with 20, averaging one every 17.2 at-bats.

The Reds are 17-26 on the road. The Cincinnati pitching staff has a combined team ERA of 3.80, Tyler Mahle paces the staff with a mark of 4.57. The Rockies won the last meeting 3-2. Jairo Diaz earned his second victory and Daniel Murphy went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs for Colorado. David Hernandez took his fifth loss for Cincinnati.

TOP PERFORMERS: Arenado leads the Rockies with 67 RBIs and is batting .308. David Dahl is 9-for-38 with two doubles, three home runs and seven RBIs over the last 10 games for Colorado.

Eugenio Suarez leads the Reds with 21 home runs home runs and is slugging .491. Yasiel Puig is 13-for-34 with a double, three home runs and six RBIs over the last 10 games for Cincinnati.

LAST 10 GAMES: Rockies: 3-7, .273 batting average, 6.21 ERA, outscored by 17 runs

Reds: 5-5, .239 batting average, 4.65 ERA, outscored by 14 runs

Rockies Injuries: Seunghwan Oh: 10-day IL (abdominal), Harrison Musgrave: 60-day IL (elbow), Tyler Anderson: 60-day IL (knee), Brendan Rodgers: 10-day IL (shoulder).

Reds Injuries: Alex Wood: 60-day IL (back), Amir Garrett: 10-day IL (lat), Scooter Gennett: day-to-day (illness), Tucker Barnhart: 10-day IL (oblique).