Colorado Rockies: The stats from their 11-game skid

The Colorado Rockies have lost nine of their last 11 games and, as you may expect, the stats from that span are not pretty.

11 games ago, the Colorado Rockies had a 1.5 game lead on the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West lead and the best record in the National League.

But in those 11 games, the Rockies have lost 9 of them and now, the Rockies are in third place in the NL West, five games back of the Dodgers for the NL West lead and one game back of the Padres for second place. They also only have a 0.5 game lead on the D’Backs for 4th place in the NL West.

As you would expect when a team goes 2-9, not much has been going right for the Rockies, in any shape or form and the stats say as much.

The offense

At first glance, in the entire 11-game span, you would think that the Rockies have been about even with their production before this skid and after, which they have.

Here’s their numbers before the skid and during these last 11 games:

• Through August 8: .268/.335/.442
• Since August 9 (11 games): .272/.326/.433

So, it is true that, in the 11 games, it is about even.

However, in their last six games, the Rockies offense is only hitting .232/.293/.369 and that includes their two most recent games against Houston when the Rockies scored a combined 14 runs.

Nolan Arenado is starting to heat up as is Raimel Tapia and Ryan McMahon, which are definitely good signs. However, Daniel Murphy and Garrett Hampson have cooled off significantly of late. Charlie Blackmon has as well but he really couldn’t get any hotter than he was to start the season.

The Rockies must get more offensive production from catcher and from whoever plays center field, now that David Dahl (who was struggling himself) is on the injured list.

The starting pitching

In the team’s 14 games, the Rockies had a starting pitching ERA of 2.65, which was third-best in MLB. Only the Indians and Reds had better ERA’s.

Since then, though, the Rockies starting pitcher ERA is 5.48, which is 19th in MLB in that span.

There hasn’t been one starting pitcher, in particular, that has had multiple bad starts but four of the five starters have had one clunker.

• Jon Gray: 3 1/3 IP, 11 H, 8 R/ER (August 10th)
• Antonio Senzatela: 6 IP, 9 H, 5 R/ER (August 12th)
• Ryan Castellani: 5 2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R/ER (August 19th)
• German Marquez: 5 IP, 10 H, 10 R/ER (August 20th)

The only starter that hasn’t had a clunker is Kyle Freeland. In his five starts, he has gone at least 6 innings and allowed three or fewer runs in each of those.

Their overall starter’s ERA is 3.95, which is still 8th in MLB.

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The bullpen

The Rockies bullpen ERA in their first 14 games was 3.26, which was 7th in MLB at the time.

Since, the Rockies bullpen ERA has also more than doubled as, in the last 11 games, their bullpen ERA is 7.71. That is 3rd-worst in baseball in that span.

Overall now on the season, their bullpen ERA is 5.08, which is 20th in MLB.

Overall pitching stats

In the Rockies’ first 14 games, the Rockies team ERA was a phenomenal 2.88. By and large, it was the reason why the Rockies were 11-3 in their first 14 games.

In their last 11 games, though, the Rockies have a team ERA of more than double their previous number: 6.22.

This number was, obviously, much lower before the last two games with Houston, as the Rockies pitching staff allowed 23 earned runs in those two games but their team ERA in the first nine games of the skid was 5.04.

Their staff ERA on the season now is 4.35.

Final Thoughts

It’s obvious that the pitching staff faltering in the last 11 games is a big reason why the Rockies have lost nine of them but the offense must perform better than they have this season.

There have been glimmers of hope lately with Arenado, Tapia, and McMahon but the injuries to Chris Owings and David Dahl, as well as the lack of offense all season from the catching position, mean that the Rockies offense needs to improve on their hard contact (as they have numerous players in the bottom 10 percent of the league in hard hit percentage and exit velocity).

The Rockies will need more consistency in general as they start what is, perhaps, the most crucial stretch of their season tonight by starting a three-game series with the Dodgers in Los Angeles at 7:40 p.m. (Mountain time).