Colorado Rockies fire manager Bud Black a day after losing 21-0 to San Diego

Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black waits for relief pitcher Jake Bird to take the mound after removing starting pitcher Chase Dollander in the sixth inning of a baseball tournament against the Atlanta Braves Wednesday April in Denver AP Photo David Zalubowski AP David Zalubowski Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black waits for relief pitcher Jake Bird to take the mound after removing starting pitcher Chase Dollander in the sixth inning of a baseball challenge against the Atlanta Braves Wednesday April in Denver AP Photo David Zalubowski AP David Zalubowski DENVER AP It s no longer Bud Black s job to steer the Colorado Rockies away from baseball infamy The company fired Black the winningest manager in franchise history after a - start that s one of the worst in Major League Baseball history Colorado promoted third base coach Warren Schaeffer to be the interim manager the crew publicized Sunday after a - win over San Diego That win wasn t enough to save Black s job after the Rockies lost - to the Padres on Saturday night They also fired bench coach Mike Redmond Hitting coach Clint Hurdle takes over as interim bench coach The Rockies have the worst -game start since the Baltimore Orioles who were - Our play so far this season especially coming off the last two seasons has been unacceptable Our fans deserve better and we are capable of better Rockies owner chairman and CEO Dick Monfort reported in a message While we all share responsibility in how this season has played out these changes are necessary Colorado is games out of first place in the NL West The Rockies have been outscored by runs so far this season The only band since with a worse run differential through games was the Oakland Athletics - We have to get better and move forward we owe it to our fans to play better baseball general manager Bill Schmidt reported Sunday On Saturday afternoon Schmidt backed Black saying Buddy s doing a good job right now They re showing up for work and playing with effort Hours later the Rockies were routed by the Padres Schmidt reported he was attempting to get everything in place Sunday morning to make the move after the competition win or lose I know it took a little air out of winning the contest mentioned Schmidt whose gang snapped an eight-game slide The seventh manager in group history Black initially unveiled success with Colorado when he led the Rockies to back-to-back playoff appearances in and They haven t finished with a winning record since and are coming off two straight -loss seasons Colorado has a winning percentage since Black s contract was set to expire following the season He signed a one-year extension in October Black was - in nine seasons while wearing the purple pinstripes He surpassed Hurdle last season for the squad record in both games managed and wins The easy-going demeanor of Black seemed to be a good fit for a Rockies company relying heavily on youth The lineup featured a nucleus of Gold Glove winners Ezequiel Tovar presently on the injured list and Brenton Doyle along with the newest call-up of highly touted outfielder Zac Veen who has since been sent back down On the mound they ve promoted prized pitcher Chase Dollander the ninth overall draft pick in But little has gone right for Black and the Rockies They allowed or more runs in four straight games culminating in the football-like - number Saturday I love both those guys to death I ll be in contact with them for hopefully the rest of my life pitcher Kyle Freeland commented of Black and Redmond Clearly several changes needed to be made to see if we can start turning this thing around get going in a new direction and get chosen traction A crew owned by Monfort and run by Schmidt didn t make any splash moves to bolster a spiraling club Their total payroll this season is listed at million and is th in the league according to Spotrac a site that tracks payroll One reason for the Rockies free fall has been the medical of slugger Kris Bryant who s struggled to stay on the field after signing a million seven-year contract ahead of the season He s at this moment on the -day injured list with lumbar degenerative disk infection Before taking over the Rockies Black spent time in charge of San Diego He was - in nine seasons with the Padres and was named the NL manager of the year in In addition to his managerial stints in San Diego and Colorado Black spent seven seasons as the pitching coach for the Angels who made it to postseason three times and were World Series champions in Before emerging into the managerial ranks Black spent parts of seasons on the mound after the left-hander was picked by Seattle in the th round of the draft He spent time with the Mariners Kansas City - Cleveland - Toronto and San Francisco - He finished - with a ERA over games Black was with the Royals when they won the World Series making one start and a relief appearance against St Louis Schaeffer will make his first appearance as interim manager Monday in Arlington Texas against the Rangers He s been Colorado s third base and infield coach since the season Prior to joining the big league group he spent seasons as a manager and coach in the Rockies minor league system He majority in recent months managed Triple-A Albuquerque in the and seasons I believe that Warren is the right person to lead us forward for the remainder of this season develop our young talent at the major league level and get our club back to playing a better brand of baseball Schmidt mentioned AP Baseball Writer Noah Trister contributed to this summary AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source