Colorado Rockies series preview: Time to bounce back in Philadelphia

After getting swept at home by the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks, the Colorado Rockies will be looking to bounce back as they start tonight’s series against the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Offensively, the Colorado Rockies haven’t struggled lately as they put up 14 runs in their last three games. We’ve seen big production out of guys like DJ LeMahieu and Trevor Story, who has been putting up a few home runs. Ian Desmond even came through with a few hits and a homer. The Rockies have a solid lineup but the key in this series will be getting runs early so that they have the advantage. There should be some hope for the Rox as this is an away series and they play fairly well while on the road (21-14 away from Denver). 

The Phillies come into this breaking their four-game losing streak on Sunday with a win over the Brewers. Odubel Herrera has gone on a cold streak but still has good stats with a .288 batting average and 33 RBI. Carlos Santana is another Phillie to watch out for. With the most RBI on the team (37) and 10 homers, he will be the offensive threat to keep an eye on in the series.

The Phillies aren’t a home run hitting team (they rank 23rd in Major League Baseball in homers) so hopefully the Colorado Rockies pitching staff that has given up 80 homers (10th-highest in MLB) will benefit from that.

Jon Gray will be on the mound tonight. He’s struggled for a majority of the season, but the Rockies did get the win in his last outing. He pitched five innings and gave up three runs and seven hits. Gray has currently a record of 6-6 and a pretty high ERA at the moment 5.66.

Tyler Anderson will be the starter on Wednesday. In his last outing, he threw seven innings. This led to a no decision he gave up two runs and five hits.

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Thursday’s series finale will feature German Marquez on the bump. His last outing wasn’t good at all. Marquez gave up three home runs in one inning which contributed to the loss and his overall 4.79 ERA. However, he has a road ERA of 2.06 from his last six starts.

As we know from the Arizona series, the bullpen will be the thing to watch along with who Bud Black puts in the game. 

Aaron Nola will take the mound tonight for the Phillies. He’s been nothing but stellar this year as the ace of the team. He has a 7-2 record with a 2.35 ERA. With the way he’s playing, he’ll most likely go to the All-Star game.

Nick Pivetta will be Tyler Anderson’s opposite for game two. He’s struggled and hasn’t been able to pitch five innings or more since the end of May. Vince Velasquez will be on the bump in game three. Velasquez’s last start may be a sign of hope to the Rockies. He gave up 10 runs in just 3.2 innings and couldn’t make it out of the fourth. 

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This is another key series that the Colorado Rockies have to win in order to stay competitive. They are currently in fourth place in the division and need to bounce back in order to start the climb back to first place. The goal for this series (and the rest of the month) is to come through in key moments on the mound and at the plate to secure the win.