Colorado Rockies morning after: Reaction to lots of history made in one weekend

The Colorado Rockies had a roller coaster of a four-game series with the San Diego Padres end on a sour note on Father’s Day. However, the entire series was packed with a lot of historical things of note.

The Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres split their four-game weekend series in one of the most odd series in baseball history.

The Rockies and Padres combined to make a lot of history in the series, though.

First off, the two teams combined for 92 runs, which is the most runs ever scored in a four-game series in the modern era of baseball (since 1900). The previous record was 89 runs and it was set in 1929.

The two teams also came in second for the most hits in a four-game series ever. The Rockies and Padres combined for 131 hits. The most in a four-game series is 133 and it was set in 1922.

The Padres tied their franchise record for the most hits in a four-game series with 62. The other time was in June 1994…in Denver.

The Rockies had a very good chance to win all four game but they were only able to salvage two of them due to the bullpen blowing games in both losses. Total for the series, the Rockies bullpen had an ERA of 10.71.

Also, per the Elias Sports Bureau (h/t ESPN Stats & Info on Twitter), it was the first time in Padres history that they overcame a 3-run deficit (or more) in the 9th inning or later multiple times in a series. The last time that happened, in general, was when the Houston Astros did it in 1989 against (you guessed it) the San Diego Padres.

The Padres had been 0-766 in such situations previously.

Elias and ESPN also noted even more oddities in the series.

In 2019, teams that have trailed by at least five runs after the sixth inning are 3-251. Two of those three wins were the Padres this past weekend.

Even more mind boggling, on Friday, the Padres were the first road team to win after entering the ninth inning trailing by six runs or more since May 2005. Previously, road teams were 0-3,805 since the last occasion, according to Elias.

One thing that was good for the Rockies was Charlie Blackmon, as he has been on fire at the plate. He entered the series with an offensive slash line of .305/.361/.582. Now, he has a slash line of .336/.385/.652. That came after he went 15-for-24 with 4 home runs and 10 RBI.

With those 15 hits, per the Rockies PR team on Twitter, Blackmon is the first player in the modern era (since 1900) with 15 hits in a four-game series. Per ESPN Stats and Info on Twitter, Blackmon is just the 3rd player with 15 hits in a single series (regardless of the number of games) since World War II. Only one player (Irv Hall) has had more hits in a series in that span.

Also, for the first three games of the season, per the Rockies PR team on Twitter, Blackmon was the first player in Rockies history to record four hits in three games in a row. Also, the last MLB player to do that was Rafael Furcal in 2007.

Reactions to the numbers

As much as you might think it is caused by the games taking place at Coors Field, after Sunday’s game, Rox Pile’s Kevin Henry spoke exclusively with Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta. He asked him what was the cause of all the offense in the series was and Iannetta does not believe that it is Coors Field.

“Two teams not making any pitches,” said Iannetta. “[The] offenses will stop clicking as soon as you make pitches, and neither team did.”

Rockies manager Bud Black also spoke to the media, including Henry, and he, by and large, concurred with Iannetta.

“As you saw for most of the game, the pitcher’s who elevated the ball got hurt,” said Black. “The guys who kept the ball down and with action down got their outs, so with Peter [Lambert on Sunday], he was up.”

For the Rockies bullpen imploding multiple times, the biggest implosions came from closer Wade Davis, who saw his ERA skyrocket from 2.16 to 5.21 in the series. However, Black thinks he knows why he was so unsuccessful in the series.

“The last couple of nights, it looks as though he’s just not getting through some pitches,” said Black. “[The ball is] reading out okay but it looks like it doesn’t have the finish at the end [and] obviously, a little variable with the command…”

Overall, for the series, Black had one thought on why the was so much offense in the series.

“I don’t think the pitching was great,” said Black. He elaborated on the statement by saying that it was mainly the “quality of the pitch[es]” and specifically the number of elevated pitches.

Any way you look at it, it is one of the most wild series in MLB history. The Rockies will have a day for breather today before starting a series with the D’backs in Arizona on Tuesday but the Padres head home to face the reigning NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers on Monday night.