Colorado Rockies: Foes Have Upper Hand With Two Outs

If you’ve watched much of the Colorado Rockies this season, you know that the team has had a tough time closing out innings. Taking a look at the statistics, however, it’s amazing just how tough of a time it has been.

The Rockies currently trail all of the Major League Baseball with a 5.93 ERA, certainly part of the reason why Colorado has dropped five straight and seven of their last eight games. The Rockies received a break of sorts on Thursday afternoon when the final game of their four-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates was called off because of foul weather in downtown Denver. The “off day” comes at a good time for the Rockies as they were scheduled to play 20 straight games between April 22 and May 11.

But let’s break that 5.93 ERA down a little bit as the inning goes along. With no outs in the inning, the Colorado Rockies rank seventh in all of MLB with a 2.06 ERA. That’s pretty darn good. However, that’s also where things start to go downhill pretty quickly.

With one out in the inning, Colorado’s ERA jumps to 6.90, which ranks 29^th out of MLB’s 30 teams. That’s bad … but it gets worse.

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With two outs in the inning, the Rockies pitching staff has posted an unfathomable 9.10 ERA, easily the worst in baseball. The New York Yankees are ranked 29^th with a 7.76 ERA, meaning Colorado is more than a run worse in two-out situations than its nearest competitor.

Also with two outs in the inning, Colorado opponents are batting a league high .307 and have hit 13 homers. Only the Yankees (15) have surrendered more two-out homers than the Rockies.

The inability to close out innings bit the Rockies once again on Wednesday night as a two-out double by Jordy Mercer in the 12^th inning provided the winning run for the Pirates in a 9-8 decision. Overall, Colorado has surrendered 64 of its league-high 133 runs allowed with two outs in the frame.

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If Colorado’s pitching is to improve any time soon, focusing on finishing the inning should be high on the list of things to do immediately.