CLEVELAND — The Rockies could use a feel-good story right about now. Brenton Doyle fits the bill, but the club sees him as much more than a mood booster.

“He’s potentially a player who can do some really good things. He’s got that skill set,” manager Bud Black said Monday before the Rockies blanked the Guardians, 6-0. Colorado entered the game having lost 11 of its past 12 games.

Doyle, 24, was called up from Triple-A Albuquerque and made his major league debut, starting in center field. To make room on the roster, the club optioned struggling corner infielder Elehuris Montero to Triple-A. Montero will concentrate on playing first base.

“This feels awesome. All of my hard work is paying off,” Doyle said prior to the game, in which he went 0 for 3 with a walk, a strikeout and a run scored. He nearly had the first hit of his career by beating out a grounder to shortstop Amed Rosario in the eighth inning, but he was called out upon a replay review of the play.

Doyle was tearing up the Pacific Coast League, slashing .381/.480/.857 with three home runs over his past five games after being reinstated from the injured list. He missed 10 games with the Isotopes when he bruised his right knee crashing into a wall while chasing down a flyball.

“We talked about this in spring training,” Black said. “The exciting part (for) Brenton is the speed and power combination and the well-above-average defense. He can really go get the ball in center field.”

Playing for High-A Spokane in 2021, Doyle was named a MiLB Gold Glove Award winner.

Doyle received word of his call-up on Sunday when Doug Chadwick, the Rockies’ organizational director of mental skills, called Doyle up in front of the entire Isotopes team.

“He started out kind of picking on me, saying I got to the field later than anyone else, and he said I had to read something in front of the whole team,” Doyle said.

He then shuffled through the bag in his locker in the visitor’s clubhouse at Progressive Field and found a piece of notebook paper. He read the note aloud:  “You’ve got to play them one game at a time. I’m just happy to be here. I hope I can give it my best shot. And the good Lord willing, things will work out.”

The words, of course, come from “Bull Durham,” the classic baseball movie.

“After I read that, (Chadwick) said, ‘Hey, you’re going to use it, you’re going to go to ‘The Show,’ ” Doyle recalled. “It was awesome. The whole clubhouse went nuts.”

Marquez on track. Right-hander German Marquez threw a 35-pitch bullpen Sunday and came out of it with no pain in his right forearm. He’s now lined up to return to the rotation for Wednesday afternoon’s game against Cleveland. Black said that Marquez should be able to throw five or six innings.

Rookie right-hander Noah Davis was scheduled to start Wednesday, so now Black will have to juggle the rotation. One possibility could be to put struggling right-hander Jose Urena in the bullpen and keep Davis in the rotation.

Footnotes. Center fielder Yonathan Daza said he originally thought he had suffered a broken left hand when he was drilled by a 96.5 mph fastball from Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler on Sunday. Fortunately, Daza suffered only a bruised hand and he said he could be ready to return by Tuesday, if needed.

Tuesday’s Pitching Matchup

Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-2, 6.16 ERA) at Guardians RHP Peyton Battenfield (0-1, 1.69)

4:10 p.m. Tuesday, Progressive Field

TV: AT&T SportsNet

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM

Feltner, who’s from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and pitched for Ohio State, is coming off his first win over the season, throwing 5 2/3 crisp innings in Colorado’s 5-0 victory at Philadelphia. He gave up just three hits, walked three and struck out six. In his career outside of Coors Field, he’s 3-7 with a 5.82 ERA over 15 starts. He’s never faced the Guardians.

Battenfield was recently called up from the minors and stepped into the rotation when Aaron Civale went on the injured list with an oblique injury. The 6-foot-4 Battenfield has delivered two excellent starts. He gave up one earned run in 4 2/3 innings with no walks and three strikeouts against the Yankees and then yielded just three hits in six innings against the Tigers. Battenfield was 8-6 with a 3.63 ERA at Triple-A Columbus last season.

Pitching probables

Wednesday: Rockies RHP German Marquez (2-1, 4.41) at Guardians TBA, 11:10 a.m., ATTRM
Thursday: Off day

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