Colorado Rockies: 6 Big Things That Happened in July

The month of July was pretty amazing for the Colorado Rockies, especially when you consider the team went from being viewed as “sellers” and out of the hunt for the postseason before the All-Star break to right in the middle of the race for October as the month ended.

Looking back at July, the Rockies went 15-12 in the month, their most wins for single month since going 16-12 in April of 2014. The 15 wins in July were the most for the Rockies in the month of July since also winning 15 in July of 2009.

Sure the 15 wins were impressive, but even more impressive was the fact that the Rockies went 12-5 in the 17 games in July after the All-Star festivities in San Diego. The Rockies were 3-9 over their final 12 games heading into the break, showing exactly what a turnaround Colorado put together after the second half began.

Let’s look back at six big things that really told the tale of Colorado’s play in July.

Biggest kudos: Colorado pitchers

One of the biggest reasons for that turnaround was Colorado’s pitching. In July, Rockies starting pitchers went 12-8 with a 3.59 ERA. The Rockies recorded 20 quality starts in the month, their most quality starts in a single month in franchise history, topping the 19 established in June of 2009.

Part of Colorado’s success was avoiding giving up the long ball. Rockies pitchers allowed 0.68 home runs per nine innings (surrendering just 18 homers in 237 innings), which was the best mark in Major League Baseball for the month of July. It was the first time that Colorado pitchers led MLB in HR/9 since May of 2015 (0.65).

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Colorado also ranked tied for third in the National League with eight saves. Carlos Estevez recorded seven of those.

Boone Logan led the team with 15 appearances while Chad Bettis threw a team-high 38 innings in the month. Logan also earned his first win of the season on July 16, which was his first win since July 9, 2014, versus San Diego, a span of 107 games between victories.

Tyler Anderson and Bettis tied as the starter with the most wins in the month (three) while Jordan Lyles picked up a bullpen-high two wins and his first save since 2013.

Biggest milestone game of the month

That would go to Anderson, who earned his first career win and also recorded his first career hit and first career home run in a July 9 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. With that performance, he became the second pitcher in Rockies pitcher to record a hit and home run in the same game in which he earned his first career win, joining Jason Jennings in his Major League debut on August 23, 2001, at the New York Mets.

Next: July's Biggest Moment, Loss and Return