Colorado Rockies: 10 Numbers That Show August’s Struggles

The Colorado Rockies entered the month of August with momentum and thoughts of making a run toward the National League Wild Card. By the time, the month was over, the Rockies were thinking ahead to 2017.

So what happened in August that caused things to fall apart for the Rockies? Let’s take a look at 10 numbers that mattered in the month.

The Rockies went 12-16 in August, their worst record for a single month in 2016. This came after the Rockies went 15-12 in July for their best single-month record since going 16-12 in April of 2014.

What was one of the good parts of the month? The Rockies led the Major Leagues with a .298 team batting average, 173 runs, a .363 on-base percentage and a .495 slugging percentage.

So Colorado led the Majors in batting during the month but had a losing record? Yep, thanks to a horrendous month on the mound.

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In August, Rockies starting pitchers went 7-9 with a 4.91 ERA. Colorado starters took a step back in the month, making just 11 quality starts. That was a far cry from the 20 they made in July when Colorado clawed its way back into the postseason conversation. As a point of reference, Colorado starters had 14 quality starts in June, 14 in May and eight in April.

The Rockies bullpen went 5-7 with three saves and a 5.91 ERA. The bullpen also blew eight saves, which was tied for the most in the Major Leagues. Carlos Estevez struggled in particular, going 0-2 with a 10.00 ERA and 0-for-3 in save opportunities. His tough month came after he logged a 1.80 ERA and went 7-for-7 in saves in July.

Colorado went 11-3 in the month when leading after eight innings. That means there were three games in August when the Rockies lost in the ninth. Two of those losses were crushing defeats at home against Miami on August 5 and Texas on August 8.

In August, the Rockies were 1-3 in one-run games and 2-6 in two-run games. In games decided by the team’s last at-bat, Colorado was 2-4 in the month.

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Even when Colorado had offense, it wasn’t enough in August. As an example, hitting multiple homers in a game didn’t exactly help Colorado in the month. In August games when the Rockies hit two or more homers, Colorado was 4-5.