A look inside the numbers from the worst month in Colorado Rockies history

The Colorado Rockies had an awful month of July that, by the looks of the pennant race now, knocked them out of playoff contention for 2019.

Entering play in the month of August, the Colorado Rockies are 50-59 and in last place in the National League West, 21.5 games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead, 7.5 games back of the second NL Wild Card spot, and only seven games from having the worst record in the National League.

That’s due to the Rockies having their worst month in franchise history. The Rockies went 6-19 in the month July, which is a .240 winning percentage, which is the lowest for any full month in franchise history. In eight total series in the month, the Rockies only won one of them and they were swept three times. In addition, they only won consecutive games just once (July 25 at Washington and July 26 at Cincinnati).

The pitching staff in July

While the Rockies in general did not play well, much of the blame falls on the pitching staff. They posted a 6.63 ERA (216.0 IP, 159 ER), which was the highest in the Majors for July. Per the Rockies PR team, that is the fourth-highest ERA for a single month in Rockies history and the highest in a single month since the 1999 Rockies posted a 6.74 July ERA (263.0 IP, 197 ER).

There were a few bright spots for the Rockies on the pitching front. Jon Gray pitched to a 3.99 ERA (29.1 IP, 13 ER) with two quality starts. One of those quality starts was when he pitched eight innings on July 29 against the Dodgers, allowing one run on three hits with three walks and six strikeouts. It was his third career start of eight or more innings pitched, his first since Aug. 5, 2018 at Milwaukee. Also, entering August, Jon Gray leads the Rockies in bWAR (4.3).

Carlos Estevez pitched to a 2.19 ERA in July in 12 1/3 IP, which was the lowest on the club for the month. Scott Oberg also pitched to a 2.61 ERA in 10 2/3 IP, making he and Estevez the only relief pitchers with July ERAs under 5.90.

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A look at the offense in July

Offensively, the Rockies hit .251 in the month of July, which was eighth in the National League. They were 12th with a .310 on-base percentage, 11th in the NL in slugging percentage (.418), 14th with 26 home runs, and tied for 10th in the NL with 107 runs.

The three biggest pieces in the Rockies offense all struggled in the month. Nolan Arenado hit .247/.306/.348 with only two home runs and 16 RBI. Charlie Blackmon hit .256/.304/.360 with only a single home run, 6 RBI, and 21 strikeouts in 22 games.

Of the three, Trevor Story had the most interesting month, though. He only hit .227 and only had an on-base percentage of .279 but his slugging percentage was .505. That’s because he had six doubles, three triples, and five home runs with 10 RBI.

On the positive front, Daniel Murphy batted .306 (26-for-85) in the month, ranking ninth in the National League in double (8) and 10th in RBI (17). Per the Rockies PR team, Murphy had three games of three or more hits, and recorded a career-high six RBI on July 26 at Cincinnati.

The Rockies will look to get back on track in the month of August tonight as they will open a three game series against the Giants at Coors Field before heading out on the road next week in Houston and San Diego.