Colorado Rockies morning after: The big problem they need to fix

The Colorado Rockies looked solid at the plate in the game’s first three innings on Saturday night. However, the offense came to a sudden and screeching halt after that throughout the middle frames. One of the reasons for that? Colorado’s inability to score runners when given the opportunity.

Posting a 1-for-11 line with runners in scoring position (RISP) on Saturday night, the Colorado Rockies continued a disturbing early trend. It was also part of the reason why the Rockies saw their five-game winning streak snapped with an 8-5 loss in front of 40,530 fans.

Heading into the game, Colorado ranked 27th out of 30 Major League Baseball teams in batting average with runners in scoring position with a .208 mark. The 1-for-11 line will pull that average down even further.

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As a comparison, last year, Colorado hit .259 with runners in scoring position, good enough for ninth in Major League Baseball. The year before that, the number was .285, ranking the Rockies fourth in MLB. Even in a non-playoff year (2016), Colorado finished at the top of MLB with a .287 average with RISP.

Colorado’s rough run at the plate with runners in scoring position included consecutive bases-loaded strikeouts by Tapia and Garrett Hampson to end the third inning as well as a strikeout by David Dahl that couldn’t score Charlie Blackmon from third with one out in the eighth.

In all, Colorado struck out 13 times on Saturday night. They entered the game with MLB’s sixth-highest whiff rate with RISP.

"“We had a number of guys on base and probably a little bit of anxiousness and maybe a little bit of coming out of our approach and being overly aggressive at times,” Colorado manager Bud Black said after the game. “And maybe not being ready to hit a couple of pitches early in the count. It’s a learning experience for a number of guys tonight. A lot of younger guys in our group had some opportunities. But that’s part of growth is to go through this and learn how to handle these big league situations.”"

Black pointed to the 14 hits posted by the Rockies on Saturday night as a sign that the offense is continuing to click. That’s the good sign of the coin. Turn the coin over, however, and the Rockies are still stranding too many runners when they have the opportunity to put the ball in play and bring them home.

Absolutely, the three-run Bryce Harper blast surrendered by Mike Dunn on a 1-2 pitch in the seventh inning (part of four straight hits the Phillies pieced together with two outs) was one of the reasons why the Rockies fell Saturday night. And Dunn was waiting for reporters in the Rockies locker room after the game, ready to answer questions.

"“It’s on me. The team battled all the way to the end,” Dunn said. “I missed my pitch.”"

Make no mistake that the Rockies are battling and still have the opportunity to win a four-game series against a Phillies team that many consider to be a favorite for the postseason. At 8-13, for Colorado to still be considered as a potential playoff team as well, the Rockies will need to quickly figure out their RISP issues.