During the final days of spring training, when the questions were focused on the makeup of the Rockies 25-man Opening Day roster, manager Bud Black offered a word of warning.

"We will have 25 in place for Opening Day, but this season is going to be about 45 or 50 players, not just ther 25 who open the season," he said.

And it has been.

With 50 days -- and 45 games -- remaining in the regular-season, the Rockies are 1 1/2 games out in the NL West. Even without September call ups, the Rockies already have used 38 players, and only one of the 38 was brought in from outside the organization -- right-handed reliever Seunghwan Ho, acquired before the July 31 trading deadline from the Blue Jays.

The Opening Day 25

In the Field

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
Trevor Story	115	439	58	127	32	5	24	80	36	121	.289	.348	.549
Ian Desmond	113	398	59	94	13	5	19	59	38	112	.236	.309	.437
Nolan Arenado	110	417	77	128	25	2	29	82	56	85	.307	.389	.585
Charlie Blackmon	110	446	84	124	17	4	21	49	43	96	.278	.347	.475
Gerardo Parra	105	327	42	92	17	0	5	46	25	60	.281	.335	.379
Carlos Gonzalez	96	331	56	95	22	3	14	51	27	80	.287	.341	.498
DJ LeMahieu	81	339	58	92	23	0	9	36	26	52	.271	.319	.419
Chris Iannetta	73	219	23	50	9	1	8	26	30	66	.228	.331	.388
Ryan McMahon	60	123	10	30	8	1	3	13	15	42	.244	.324	.398
Pat Valaika	54	107	7	16	4	0	2	4	9	27	.150	.216	.243
Tony Wolters	51	129	13	20	1	3	2	18	18	24	.155	.281	.256
Mike Tauchman	21	32	5	3	1	0	0	0	4	15	.094	.194	.125

On the Mound

Player	W	L	SvOP	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA
Kyle Freeland	10	7	0	23	23	139	123	47	47	13	50	110	3.04
Tyler Anderson	6	4	0	24	24	137	116	64	60	21	48	127	3.94
German Marquez	9	9	0	23	23	128.2	132	72	67	20	45	139	4.69
Jon Gray	9	7	0	22	22	127.1	130	72	68	14	37	148	4.81
Chad Bettis	5	2	0	18	18	100	103	63	63	17	40	72	5.67
Antonio Senzatela	4	3	0	15	5	47.1	46	25	24	3	17	37	4.56
Adam Ottavino	4	2	5-8	53	0	56.1	30	13	10	3	23	82	1.60
Wade Davis	1	6	32-38	51	0	47.1	36	30	29	8	24	53	5.51
Bryan Shaw	3	5	0-4	50	0	44.2	59	38	32	8	23	46	6.45
Jake McGee	2	4	1-3	46	0	39.2	46	30	28	8	11	38	6.35
Chris Rusin	0	2	0-1	35	0	39.2	42	33	30	7	20	34	6.81
Scott Oberg	7	0	0-4	34	0	34.1	32	13	12	3	10	28	3.15
Mike Dunn	0	0	0	25	0	17	22	17	17	1	18	12	9.00

Twelve of the 13 players who have been added to the roster at times during the season came directly from Triple-A Albuquerque. The one exception is reliever Seunghwan Oh, who was acquired at the trading deadline from the Blue Jays for two low-A prospects.

Position Additions

Player	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
Noel Cuevas	63	136	14	33	4	1	2	8	6	22	.243	.280	.331
David Dahl	38	110	10	30	4	2	5	15	7	31	.273	.319	.482
Tom Murphy	31	88	5	20	7	1	2	11	3	41	.227	.253	.398
Daniel Castro	18	46	2	8	1	0	1	6	1	7	.174	.191	.261
Raimel Tapia	14	18	4	4	2	0	1	5	2	5	.222	.300	.500
Garrett Hampson	7	20	1	6	1	1	0	2	4	5	.300	.417	.450

Additional Arms

Player	W	L	SvOP	G	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA
Harrison Musgrave	1	3	0	23	0	31.2	23	16	16	4	16	22	4.55
Brooks Pounders	0	1	0-1	14	0	15.1	25	13	13	3	2	17	7.63
Yency Almonte	0	0	0	7	0	9	8	3	1	0	2	7	1.00
Jeff Hoffman	0	0	0	6	1	8.2	15	9	9	0	7	5	9.35
Seunghwan Oh	0	0	1-2	8	0	7.2	6	2	2	1	3	5	2.35
Sam Howard	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Jerry Vasto	0	0	0	1	0	0.2	3	3	3	0	1	1	40.50

There were three emphatic examples of Black's statement of the importance of depth. The unsung heroes can come up big at critical times.

As Easy as 1-2-3


3B Ryan McMahon
Nolan Arenado came out of the game after aggravating right shoulder on double play pivot.
McMahon delivered game-winning two-run home run off Zac Rosscup in the seventh. With Arenado still out of the lineup Saturday, McMahon delivered the three-run, two-out walk-off home run to lift the Rockies to a 3-2 victory against the Dodgers.
xxx
RHP Adam Ottavino
Closer Wade Davis was given a day to work on mechanical issues before the game.
Ottavino got the call in the ninth and needed 11 pitches to wrap up the save.
xxx
LHP Jake McGee/RHP Scott Oberg
With Ottavino in the closer role, the Rockies needed help in the seventh and eighth.
McGee did the bulk of the work, and then Oberg came on to get final out in eighth.

Jon Gray was a part of the Opening Day roster. Heck, he was the Opening Day starter, but all things didn't go smoothly for him. He was, in fact, sent to Triple-A Albuquerque at the end of June with a 7-7 record, 5.71 ERA and only four quality starts. Two starts with the Isotopes, combined with Antonio Senzatela going on the disabled list, and Gray was back in the big leagues.

The wake up call worked miracles. He had a no decision on Friday, and it was a struggle. After four consecutive quality starts, Gray had to battle his way through 5 2/3 innings, giving up four runs, and throwing 109 pitches.

He, however, battled, and did not let the game get away from him, which gave the Rockies the opportunity to rally and win. In the five starts since his return, the Rockies are 5-0 and Gray is 2-0 with a 2.29 ERA.

Date	Opponent		W	L	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	HB	SO	AVG	#Pit
7/14/2018	Sea	W 4-1	1	0	7.1	5	1	1	0	1	0	6	.192	93
7/25/2018	Hou	W 3-2	0	0	7	1	2	1	0	2	0	6	.125	97
7/31/2018	@StL	W 6-3	1	0	7.1	4	3	2	1	2	0	5	.137	92
8/5/2018	@Mil	W 5-4	0	0	8	4	1	1	1	2	0	8	.140	99
8/10/2018	LAD	W 5-4	0	0	5.2	8	4	4	1	1	2	4	.177	109
			W	L	INN	H	R	ER	HR	BB	HB	SO	AVG	#PIT
Totals	ERA 2.29		2	0	35.1	22	11	9	3	8	2	29	.177	490

Rockies Success Hinges Upon the Next Man Up