Colorado Rockies: series preview against the Diamondbacks

The Colorado Rockies are half way through their road trip that many of us thought would be the most difficult stretch of their season. However, they went into Los Angeles to face the Dodgers and they swept them in Dodger Stadium for the first time since 1993.

The Rockies will head to Arizona to have a very important four-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Even though they won 13 straight games heading into this past Friday, they lost two of three to the San Diego Padres.

Here are some things to pay attention to in this upcoming series.

Probable Starting Pitchers

For the Rockies on Monday night, they will have rookie left-hander Kyle Freeland on the mound. He is 11-10 with a 3.99 ERA in 27 games (26 starts). In his last three starts, however, he has not pitched well as he has a 6.75 ERA in that span and batters are hitting .400 against him. In his two September starts, he hasn’t lasted longer than four innings in those starts. Against the D’Backs this year, Freeland is 1-1 with a 3.60 ERA in two starts.

For the D’Backs, they will have their ace, Zack Greinke, on the mound. He is 16-6 with a 3.01 ERA in 28 starts on the season. His 16 wins are tied for the MLB lead. He has done particularly well at Chase Field this year as he is 13-1 with a 2.31 ERA in 16 starts there this season. Against the Rockies, he is 2-1 with a 3.62 ERA in four starts this season. He has been dominate in his past three starts as he is 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA and a .217 opponent batting average in that span.

On Tuesday, the Rockies will have Jon Gray on the mound. He is 7-4 with a 4.07 ERA in 16 starts. He has been excellent recently as he hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a starts since July 19. In that span, in nine starts, he has an ERA of 2.82. In his past three starts, he has an ERA of 2.12.

Taijuan Walker will be the probable starter for the D’Backs. He is 9-7 with a 3.33 ERA in 24 starts. In his past four starts, he has only allowed two runs so his ERA is 0.79 and his opponent batting average is .217 in that span.

On Wednesday, the Rockies will have German Marquez on the mound. He has struggled a bit more recently as he is 0-1 with a 4.96 ERA in his past three starts. Batters are hitting .284 off him in that span.

He’ll be facing Patrick Corbin. From August 12 through September 2, he went 5-0 in five starts with a 0.50 ERA with a .165 opponent batting average (and one of those starts was against the Rockies). However, he was rocked by the Padres (of all teams) this past Friday. He only went 4 1/3 innings giving up 11 hits and eight runs.

On Thursday, Chad Bettis will be going for the Rox. He has not done well in his past three starts as he has an ERA of 6.46 and a opponent batting average of .281 in that span. None of those three starts have been longer than 5 1/3 innings either.

He’ll face Zack Godley. In his two September starts against the Rockies and Padres, he has gone a minimum of six innings with a 2.08 ERA and a .159 batting average.