Rockies right-hander Taylor Buchholz underwent Tommy John ligament transfer surgery on his right elbow on Wednesday. Rockies manager Jim Tracy discussed the surgery with Rockies head athletic trainer Keith Dugger, who told him Buchholz received a surprise.

“As to the state that the ligament was in, there was a piece of bone actually growing into the ligament,” Tracy said. “Apparently, what ‘Doogie’ had said to me was the doctor maintained the fragment and gave it to him, just so he could see it.”

– In a lineup stacked with right-handed hitters, Garrett Atkins gets the start at third base instead of left-handed hitting ian Stewart.

Atkins, in spot duty, has been on base in six of his last 12 plate appearances, and is on a 6-for-12 run against lefty pitchers.

“Here’s an opportunity to see where he’s at, and let him know something that I looked him in the eye and told him in St. Louis, ‘Unless you quit on yourself, I’m not going to quit on you,’” Tracy said. “You’ve got to find spots to put him in there.”

Tracy said he wants to play Atkins enough to get his “pilot light burning all the way up, instead of some of the flickers we see periodically.”

– Here are lineups for Wednesday night’s game against the Rays:

Rays

B.J. Upton, CF

Carl Crawford, LF

Evan Longoria, 3B

Carlos Pena, 1B

Ben Zobrist, 2B

Pat Burrell, RF

Jason Bartlett, SS

Michel Hernandez, C

David Price, P

Rockies

Dexter Fowler, CF

Clint Barmes, 2B

Todd Helton, 1B

Garrett Atkins, 3B

Brad Hawpe, RF

Ryan Spilborghs, LF

Troy Tulowitzki, SS

Chris Iannetta, C

Aaron Cook, P