Rockies Rugged Road Trip: Will There be a Happy Ending on Sunday?
Eleven days ago the Rockies had just finished up a 10-game homestand that they capped off with a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks, giving them seven wins in the 10 games, and putting them atop the NL West, 1 1/2 games in front of the Dodgers.
| 3-for-3 in Arizona | W | L |
|---|---|---|
| Mar. 31-Apr. 2, 1998 | 3 | 0 |
| July 23-25, 2004 | 3 | 0 |
| April 29-May 1, 2016 | 3 | 0 |
Sunday? They were looking to finish off a sweep of the Diamondbacks again, this time in Arizona, but it hasn’t been the best of times the last 10 days. They arrived in Arizona to open the current series on Friday, having lost five of the first six games on the trip, dropping two of three in San Francisco and then getting swept in Los Angeles.
They go into Sunday having fallen into second place in the NL West, 1 1/2 games back of the Dodgers, and also 1 1/2 games back of the Cardinals in the battle for the second NL wild-card spot.
| Team | W | L | Sv | SvOP | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Trip | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 68.1 | 56 | 26 | 26 | 8 | 17 | 60 | 3.42 |
| Team | W | L | Sv | SvOP | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ERA |
| at San Francisco | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 23 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 2.52 |
| Team | W | L | Sv | SvOP | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ERA |
| at Los Angeles | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 25.1 | 22 | 16 | 16 | 6 | 13 | 20 | 5.68 |
| Team | W | L | Sv | SvOP | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ERA |
| at Arizona | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1.50 |
| Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | RISP |
| The Trip | 8 | 258 | 20 | 46 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 27 | 70 | .178 | .200 |
| Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | |
| at San Francisco | 3 | 93 | 3 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 23 | .172 | 0.059 |
| Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | |
| at Los Angeles | 3 | 97 | 6 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 31 | .144 | .150 |
| Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG | |
| at Arizona | 2 | 68 | 11 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 16 | .235 | .625 |
The Rockies have, however, had solid starting pitching in the first eight games. They have six quality starts, and a seventh game in which last Sunday, in earning a victory at San Francisco, Antonio Senzatela allowed one run in five innings. The exception was Jon Gray in Monday’s opener at Los Angeles, in which Gray gave up as many runs (six) as he retired batters.
That led to the decision to push Gray back two games in the rotation. Each member of the rotation will still start twice in the final 10 games, it’s just that Kyle Freeland was moved up so he starts Sunday and then again on Friday against the Nationals. Gray, given some time to study film and work out problems from his last three starts, will get the call on Tuesday, and in the regular-season finale against the Nationals Sept. 30.
For Starters
| Player | Date | Opp | W | L | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyler Anderson | Sept. 14 | SF | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| German Marquez | Saturday | SF | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Antonio Senzatela | Sunday | SF | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Jon Gray | Monday | LAD | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Kyle Freeland | Tuesday | LAD | 0 | 0 | 6.2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Tyler Anderson | Wednesday | LAD | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| German Marquez | Friday | Ari | 1 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| Antonio Senzatela | Saturday | Ari | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Rotation Totals | 3.74 ERA | 3 | 3 | 45.2 | 43 | 19 | 19 | 5 | 11 | 39 |
The bullpen also has been solid, except for two hiccups in Los Angeles. Eight of the 11 relievers are unscored upon. Wade Davis converted the only save opportunity on the trip — last Sunday in San Francisco, but also worked shutout ninth innings in both wins in Arizona, in which the Rockies had too big of a lead to quality for a save situation.
| Player | W | Sv | G | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wade Davis | 0 | 1-1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.00 |
| DJ Johnson | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.00 |
| Jake McGee | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Chris Rusin | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00 |
| Yency Almonte | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Sam Howard | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Seunghwan Oh | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Bryan Shaw | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.00 |
| Adam Ottavino | 0-1 | 0 | 4 | 4.1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4.15 |
| Scott Oberg | 0-1 | 0 | 4 | 4.1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6.23 |
| Harrison Musgrave | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6.75 |
Offensively, however, the Rockies have been challenged. Only two regulars have hit better than .200 in the first eight games of the trip — Charlie Blackmon, who has a 14-game hitting streak going into Sunday, and Ian Desmond, who had driven in a team-high five runs, during the trip.
More Misses Than Hits
| Player | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pat Valaika | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 |
| Charlie Blackmon | 8 | 29 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | .310 |
| Gerardo Parra | 6 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .300 |
| Ian Desmond | 8 | 27 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 4 | .296 |
| Garrett Hampson | 5 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | .200 |
| David Dahl | 6 | 21 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | .19 |
| DJ LeMahieu | 8 | 33 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | .182 |
| Nolan Arenado | 8 | 32 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | .156 |
| Chris Iannetta | 5 | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | .133 |
| Matt Holliday | 7 | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | .125 |
| Trevor Story | 4 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .091 |
| Carlos Gonzalez | 4 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .077 |
| Drew Butera | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .000 |
| Noel Cuevas | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Ryan McMahon | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 |
| Tom Murphy | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 |
| Raimel Tapia | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
| Tony Wolters | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 |