There were butterflies the size of pterodactyls fluttering around Lucas Gilbreath’s tummy when he took the mound at Coors Field on Friday night.
That was a good thing.
“It was awesome,” the Rockies lefty reliever said. “It’s the closest thing I’ve had since my debut, honestly. It almost felt like a second debut.”
Understandably so. Because of elbow and shoulder injuries, Gilbreath, 28, had not pitched in nearly two years before he took the mound in the seventh inning of Colorado’s 7-3 win over the Padres. Gilbreath got Luis Arraez to fly out to deep right field and induced Jurickson Profar to ground out weakly to first base.