The Colorado Rockies have a glaring problem

Back in April, the Colorado Rockies were just getting their regular season started. The concern, all those months back, was the starting rotation but around June we saw them do a 180 at the start of June. Even the sending of Jon Gray down to Triple-A last month appeared to have help him get back to the basics. However that may be the Rockies rotation appears to still have a serious issue. 

There are certain things that every baseball club struggles with. At the beginning of the season it was hard to say what the issue was with the Colorado Rockies. Many point fingers to the bullpen and they wouldn’t be wrong, but it’s time to take another look at the starting rotation. The issue isn’t just with one starter, but the entirety of it. If they can’t figure out a way to stop this, they’ll falling out of contention very soon. 

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Looking back at the 1st inning of Colorado Rockies games, you can easily spot a trend. While looking at the box scores all the way back to the first regular season game, the Rockies have given up 1 or more run in just the 1st inning a lot.

How many games you ask? In total, they’ve given up 1 or more runs in the first innings in 52 games. Further breaking that down with home/away splits, the rotation does it more at home than away. In those 52 games, there were 28 instances of 1 or more runs given in the very first inning at home while the rest of the 24 games were on the road. 

Last night’s game was no different, but it was the most runs that they’ve given up in a single inning. Colorado Rockies starter Tyler Anderson gave up 6 runs in just the 1st inning alone in the 8-4 loss against the Milwaukee Brewers. In most instances, when this had occurred in those 52 games, the Rockies did suffer a loss. Usually, the starters have shown they can bounce back after the 1st and hold off any more runs from happening, but it’s just too little too late after giving up a lot runs in the 1st, like they did on Saturday.

An opposing team’s momentum is already being built up after scoring in the 1st inning and it appear the Colorado Rockies can’t stop them from winning in most instances. This issue has gotten so bad that the Rockies now lead all the MLB in allowing earned runs in the 1st inning with 90 and, as our own Jake Shapiro noted on Twitter last night, a 7.77 ERA.

There doesn’t appear to be any signs of this stopping judging by last night’s game so how exactly do they solve the problem? It most likely depends on the morale of the starter and what confidence they have. At this moment, something like this will only be pointed out after games like yesterday’s.

The Colorado Rockies have a serious problem on their hands and it will more than likely continue to cause them losses until the rotation and coaches can pinpoint the problem. Since that hasn’t happened yet, the Rockies starters giving up runs in the 1st will continue to be an odd occurring conundrum.