News » DENVER — Colorado catcher

Chris Iannetta is quite familiar with the challenge that awaits the Rockies on Wednesday when left-hander Patrick Corbin starts for the Arizona Diamondbacks.Iannetta spent last season with the Diamondbacks Bo Jackson Jersey , meaning he caught Corbin (11-5, 3.01 ERA), who will oppose Jon Gray (11-7, 4.69).The Diamondbacks’ 6-3 victory Tuesday moved them within 2 1/2 games of the Rockies (79-65), who lead the National League West by 1 1/2 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The win was only the third in 11 games for the Diamondbacks (77-68), who are four games behind St. Louis for the final wild-card spot.Article continues below ...Corbin has allowed three or fewer runs in seven straight starts. He’s 4-1, 2.23 in that span with five walks and 57 strikeouts in 44 1/3 innings and two home runs allowed. He has limited opposing hitters to a .202 average and .524 OPS during that stretch.Overall this season, Corbin has had more success against right-handed hitters, limiting them to a .203 average and .553 OPS in 554 plate appearances. By contrast, left-handed hitters are batting .238 with a .704 OPS in 158 plate appearances.He won his last start Friday against Atlanta, allowing one run and four hits in six innings with one walk and nine strikeouts as the Diamondbacks beat the Braves 5-3.In two starts against the Rockies this season Paulo Orlando Jersey , Corbin is 1-0, 3.60. He’s 8-3, 4.66 in 19 games (18 starts) against the Rockies.“I think first and foremost, the angle he creates with his fastball,” Iannetta said. “He has a really good downhill angle on it. He pitches inside really well to righties and away to lefties. He’s able to throw his two-seamer down and away to righties. He mixes in a change, which I was a big fan of, and then he’s got a plus slider.“That’s been the pitch that really sets him apart. His ability to back-foot that slider (to righties), to throw it for strikes inside and away. It’s really two pitches in one. When it ends up being backdoor, it’s more like a curveball to a rightie. When it’s more back foot, it’s more true slider. So he’s a three-pitch guy, but he’s really a four-pitch guy.”Arizona is 17-12 in starts by Corbin. The Rockies are 16-11 in starts by Gray http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-danny-duffy-jersey , who has made 13 starts since he last lost June 17.In 10 starts since returning from Triple-A Albuquerque, where he made two starts in July, Gray is 4-0, 3.17 with 16 walks and 49 strikeouts in 65 1/3 innings while limiting opposing hitters to a .209 average.Gray received a no-decision Friday against the Dodgers when the Rockies lost 4-2. Gray issued a career-high tying five walks in four innings while yielding four hits and two runs with four strikeouts. He threw 85 pitches in four innings, 49 for strikes, and since that start has worked in particular on his fastball command and being aggressive.“I want to get back to attacking the zone,” Gray said. “I feel I didn’t throw as many pitches in the zone and attack as I used to. I just want to get back to down and away (for strikes with the fastball). That pretty much fixes everything else. You feel like you’re getting pretty good glove side (location). With me it’s just fill up the strike zone more. The last 10 starts or whatever were efficient; that one wasn’t.” OAKLAND, Calif. — Seattle Mariners right-hander Felix Hernandez will be seeking one of the most important wins in his grand history against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday afternoon when he pitched the finale of a four-game series between American League playoff hopefuls.The third-place Mariners (76-60) gave their hopes of overtaking the second-place A’s (81-56) a boost with a nail-biting, 8-7 victory Saturday night.Seattle will leave Oakland either a reasonable 3 1/2 games or a distant 5 1/2 games behind the A’s as they go head-to-head not just for second in the West but perhaps most important for the second AL wild-card berth.Article continues below ...The clubs also will meet three times in Seattle in the final week of the season, magnifying the need for the Mariners to stay at least within three games of the A’s.Hernandez (8-12, 5.49 ERA) hasn’t had his best season Frank White Jersey , but the Mariners way more often than not have been in good hands when the 14-year veteran has pitched in Oakland.Hernandez has faced the A’s 50 times in his career, starting on 49 of those occasions. He has gone 26-12 with a 2.71 ERA.The 26 wins are seven more than he has against any other team.The 32-year-old has been especially good in Oakland, where he’s 13-5 with a 2.89 ERA in 26 games, including 25 as a starter.Hernandez’s 13 wins in Oakland are the most by an A’s opponent in Oakland Coliseum history.He has faced the A’s four times already this season and lost three of them, albeit by the low-scoring counts of 2-1, 4-3 and 3-2. The latter two games were in Oakland.Hernandez, the sixth-winningest active pitcher with 168 victories, will be opposed by another member of the exclusive 100-win club, A’s right-hander Edwin Jackson (4-3, 3.03), who owns 102 career wins.The 34-year-old hasn’t faced Seattle since 2013 http://www.royalsfanproshop.com/authentic-joakim-soria-jersey , but he dominated the Mariners when he did. Jackson has started four games in his career against the Mariners and won all four, compiling a 1.26 ERA in the process.Jackson has not gotten out of the fifth inning in either of his last two starts — home against Texas and at Houston — allowing seven runs (six earned) and 11 hits in nine innings.Neither team was particularly sharp in Saturday’s game.The A’s lent a helping hand to the Mariners in a three-run third inning when second baseman Jed Lowrie and Stephen Piscotty miscommunicated, allowing Denard Span’s pop fly to drop.Oakland still had a chance to get a forceout at second base on the play, but center fielder Ramon Laureano threw wildly to the plate, allowing a run to score and setting up the other two runs.Kyle Seager put the Mariners up 5-1 later in the inning with a single to right field on which Lowrie dropped a relay throw, allowing Span to score after he had initially held up at third.The A’s then caught a break in a four-run rally in the eighth when Span, playing left field, turned Marcus Semien’s two-run double into a three-run blow when he bobbled the ball.That got the A’s within one and gave them a chance to tie the game with Semien at second base, but Mariners closer Edwin Diaz struck out Matt Chapman to retain the 8-7 lead.