Colorado Rockies Series Preview: Trying to be successful at home

The Colorado Rockies have lost 8 of their last 10 games so far and it’s not looking to good for their division hopes. The fans aren’t happy and that could potentially be a factor since these are home games. The Rockies are back home tonight to start a 4 game set against the New York Mets.

The Colorado Rockies starting pitching has done fairly well when compared to the bullpen. Though that’s not saying much. Tyler Anderson will be the first to pitch in the series. He’s doing good when it comes to season stats, but his last game didn’t play out well and came to a no decision for him. He pitched in 7 innings giving up only six hits and one run (that was earned). He also did not walk a batter. That made two straight starts in which Anderson pitched seven innings and in both starts, he gave up two or less runs.

Next on the mound for Colorado will be German Marquez, who hasn’t been playing up to expectations. His last start was a scary one as he gave up 6 runs in 6 innings with a few of those being home runs. In the last two games will be Chad Bettis and Kyle Freeland. Bettis had a crazy outing against the Rangers last week as he gave up a lot of runs as well. 5 runs allowed (all earned) in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed all five runs in the first inning. Freeland had a quality start in Texas pitching 7 strong innings and only giving up 2 runs. 

The New York Mets will have their strong rotation going into the series starting off with Jacob deGrom. He’ll mostly be looking to get a lot of strikeout as he has 113 of them already. deGrom’s pitching has been a solid mainstay for the Mets and perhaps a key to wining. Jason Vargas and Seth Lugo will take game two and three.

Vargas pitching may help the Colorado Rockies get a win in game two. In his last start, Vargas took the loss while giving up 3 earned runs in his 5 innings. Seth Lugo doesn’t appear to have found a mainstay tactic when it comes to his pitching.

He gave up quite a few runs in his last outing while also getting the loss but he was excellent against the Yankees in his previous start. In the finale game of the series Steven Matz will have the ball. He’s not a guy who gives up a lot of runs (3.34 ERA) and he’s also capable of pitching deep into games. 

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The offense of both teams

The offense of the Rockies did work fairly hard to get wins against the Texas Rangers. They put up 23 runs over the span of three games, meaning that the offense is there and it’s really falling on the pitching to sustain the offense’s lead.

The majority of the Rockies players have not done too well batting against Mets pitchers, but perhaps having home field advantage will fix that. The biggest concern offensive wise is how many runners they will leave on base that are in scoring position. That’s a big deal and could possibly hurt the Rox if they can’t come through with clutch at-bats. 

The Mets are quite the opposite when it comes to offense. They have the stellar pitching that holds down the fort, but the players can’t get anything started to score. In June, they are 3-11 and are only averaging 2.1 runs per game. They averaged four runs a game in their four game series against the Dbacks that they are coming off of so, with the way that the Colorado Rockies are pitching, it might continue. If they can find a crack in the rotation or the bullpen, then that may possibly lead them to winning against the Rockies. 

Next: Rockies Podcast: Maybe the worst loss in franchise history

Keys to the series

The key factors for the Colorado Rockies to win is in the pitching. In order to win the starters have got to not give up runs early and for the bullpen to sustain a lead in order to maintain a win for the club. If that doesn’t happen then the Rockies can kiss the wins goodbye once again.