Colorado Rockies Beat LA: 4 Takes From Tuesday

After receiving some rough news about Trevor Story earlier in the day, the Colorado Rockies took out their frustrations on the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 7-3 win. Here are the top four stories from Tuesday night at Coors Field.

1) A Team Effort

The Rockies clearly don’t have anyone as gifted as Trevor Story sitting on their bench, so if they’re going to replace the production of their 23-year-old shortstop, it’s going to have to be a collaborative accomplishment.

Tuesday, Colorado’s lineup did exactly that, as every starting position player had at least one hit and six different players combined to score the Rockies seven runs. Carlos Gonzalez had the strongest individual performance, registering three hits and four RBI. It’s no shock that CarGo is leading the way, but it’s critical that the guys around him continue to give him support.

2) Gray Figures Out LA

Jon Gray had been roughed up by the Dodgers in three previous career starts, going 0-2 with an ERA nearing six. Since losing to Los Angeles back on July 3 though, Gray has been a different pitcher, going 2-0 with a tiny 1.32 ERA

Gray kept his new and improved form going Tuesday, as he went five scoreless innings to improve to 8-4 on the season. The hard-throwing redhead allowed just two hits while striking out six, and generally looked like the guy who’s been developing into a legitimate ace for the Rockies.

The only blemish on Gray’s evening was that his start was rather short-lived, as he left four innings for the bullpen to fill, but that’s not his fault, which leads us to #3…

More from Colorado Rockies News

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• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: 3 things we appreciated from Tuesday in San Francisco
• What Bill Schmidt’s comments mean for the Colorado Rockies in 2023

3) Weiss Handles Pitchers Questionably

At this point, Rockies fans understand that Walt Weiss likes to handle his young pitchers with a more conservative approach. That’s a perfectly reasonable stance in some cases, but at times Weiss seems to take this too far.

Tuesday night for instance, Gray was probably pulled an inning too soon. After five strong innings. Gray was sitting on 96 pitches, but rather than let him face the Dodgers in the sixth, Weiss chose to use a pinch hitter for him in a spot where it was unlikely that pinch hitter would actually change the game.

It would have been nice to see Weiss show a bit more confidence in his starter to work past the 100-pitch mark, particularly in a game Colorado was winning by four runs already. However, the questionable decision making didn’t end with Gray’s removal from the game.

Up 4-0 at the start of the sixth inning, Weiss elected to bring in Chris Rusin, a pitcher that I’ve previously argued deserves a larger role in the bullpen. Well, the Rockies and Weiss disagree evidently, because Rusin’s role on Tuesday looked an awful lot like that of a long relief pitcher.

Rusin pitched decently over three innings of relief, but now will likely be out of commission for the next few days after throwing 47 pitches. It was absolutely aggravating to watch Rusin come out for a third inning of a work in a seven-run ballgame. He may be a part of the bullpen but, in his current role, we’ll likely never see how good Rusin can be as a true reliever.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
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• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

4) Best Western

If we’re being realistic, the Rockies probably aren’t going to contend for a NL West division title this season, especially not with Story now gone for the season. But after a night that saw both San Francisco and Los Angeles fall, Colorado is only eight games back in the division race.

Even if the Rockies can’t fully chase down the division leaders, just being able to close the gap some between now and the end of the year could give this young team a lot of confidence.

Next: Colorado Reacts to Story's Season-Ending Injury

Colorado has never won a division title, and while this year’s squad likely won’t be the ones to change that, the way they’re playing suggests first place may not be that far off.