Colorado Rockies: Where they stand after another disastrous Coors sweep

The struggles continued this weekend, as Marquez and Bettis had remarkably similar, ugly outings. On Friday, Marquez made it through just four innings in 69 pitches. He allowed five earned runs on six hits, including three home runs in the top of the third.

Bettis also bowed out after four innings in Saturday’s game, but it took him 96 pitches to get there. He also allowed five earned runs and three home runs, two of those to Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt’s first home run was a 450-feet blast and is the longest opposite-field homer by a right-handed batter since Statcast’s inception in 2015. Yikes.

Kyle Freeland — currently the best pitcher in rotation — fared better on Sunday. Despite four walks, he only allowed four runs and four hits in six innings of work. He gave up just one home run — and shockingly it was to Ketel Marte, not Goldschmidt. But in what’s become a discouraging trend for Freeland, the sixth inning did him in.

We know the bullpen is its own, special kind of mess. As I wrote six weeks ago, the lack of length from the starters is a compounding the issue. The flurry of call-ups and DL placements in the past week suggest this bullpen is being overworked.

Manager Bud Black had to manage a slumping, exhausted bullpen for five innings in consecutive nights. You can criticize his decisions (for instance, I don’t think he should have pulled Jeff Hoffman so soon), but starting pitchers are putting Black in a very difficult place on a nightly basis. Black has few arms he can trust right now.