Rockies closer Seth Halvorsen suffers elbow injury in win over Pirates

DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Rockies’ win over Pittsburgh on Saturday was dampened with an elbow injury to closer Seth Halvorsen.

The hard-throwing right-hander left after tossing five pitches in the ninth inning, and the initial outlook isn’t encouraging.

“It don’t look good,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. “I’ll let you know (Sunday).”

Halvorsen, who leads the Rockies with 11 saves, was facing Pirates pinch hitter Spencer Horwitz to open the ninth and Colorado leading 8-4. He was ahead 0-2 in the count and then threw three straight balls, the last one at 99 mph.

Immediately after that pitch he bent over and dangled his right arm, prompting Rockies head trainer Keith Duggar to jog to the mound to check on him. After a brief discussion Halvorsen left the game, with Dugan Darnell coming on to finish the 8-5 win.

Schaeffer said Halvorsen wasn’t experiencing problems entering Saturday’s game.

“Not recently, but he was feeling something a while back, but he’s been good for a while,” Schaeffer said.

Halvorsen has been Colorado’s main closer since the beginning of June and had converted nine of his last 10 opportunities, including his last six.

Three of those have come after the All-Star break, which has helped the Rockies post a 7-6 record. Colorado, which is 30-80, is trying to avoid setting a modern era record for losses set by the 2024 Chicago White Sox, who were 41-121.