Padres-Rockies Preview

DENVER -- Both scheduled starters in Sunday's rubber game of the San Diego Padres-Colorado Rockies series are left-handers who were first-round picks of the Rockies.

Tyler Anderson will make his major league debut for the Rockies, who recalled him Saturday to fill a roster spot that opened when closer Jake McGee (sprained left knee) went on the disabled list. Anderson, 26, was the Rockies' first-round pick and the 20th overall selection in the 2011 draft out of the University of Oregon.

The Rockies took Christian Friedrich with the 25th overall pick in the 2008 draft out of Eastern Kentucky. Friedrich, 28, is 3-1 with a 2.57 ERA in five starts for the Padres, who have won four of those games.

Friedrich was 5-8 with a 6.17 ERA in 16 starts for the Rockies in 2012. Back problems caused him to miss the 2013 season, and he went 0-4 with a 5.92 ERA in three starts for Colorado in 2014. The Rockies moved Friedrich to the bullpen, and he made 68 appearances last year, going 0-4 with a 5.21 ERA.

Friedrich has ample history at Coors Field where he has pitched 85 1/3 innings in 49 games, nine starts, and is 2-9 with a 6.96 ERA.

"Your mistakes are exacerbated at Coors Field a little bit more than anywhere else," said Friedrich, who relishes being able to now pitch where the home and road environments are similar. "Coming here, everyone knows it's Coors Field. I've pitched it. I've lived it. There's small adjustments you have to make but it's not like it's night and day. It's still pitching. It's still trying to get through that order three times."

Friedrich signed with the Padres as a free agent on March 3. He began the season with two starts at High Class A Lake Elsinore and two more at Triple-A El Paso before making his Padres debut May 13.

Anderson has had a variety of injuries, including a sports hernia, shoulder inflammation and two stress fractures in his left elbow. The second caused him to be shut down during a Texas League playoff start in Tulsa after he went 7-4 with a 1.98 ERA in 23 starts during the regular season and was named Texas League Pitcher of the Year.

Anderson didn't pitch in 2015 and began this year on the Rockies' 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique. After one rehab start at High Class A Modesto on May 8, the Rockies reinstated Anderson and optioned him to Double-A Hartford where he went 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA in two starts before being promoted to Albuquerque. He went 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA there in three starts.

If there is a save situation in the top of the ninth, Carlos Estevez, 23, might not be on the mound. With closer Jake McGee (sprained left knee) going on the 15-day disabled list Saturday, Estevez earned his first career save after he took over for Jason Motte and came on in the ninth with no outs and runners on first and second.

Rockies manager Walt Weiss said Estevez will be the closer when available. He has pitched four out of the past five days, including the past two - a 28-pitch outing Friday followed by eight pitches to get the final two outs Saturday. His postgame comments Saturday made it sound like Estevez will pitch if called upon Sunday, something Weiss is not likely to do.

"If they needed me, I'm going for it," Estevez said after he wrapped up the Rockies' 5-3 win. "They needed me right there; I went for it like 100 percent. That's what I had to do, keep my team winning and win the game finally."