Colorado Rockies morning after: Poor starting pitching hurts them again

CINCINNATI- The Colorado Rockies have partially solved one of their biggest issues of 2021: Not hitting on the road.

They have averaged 16 runs in their last four road games, which is nothing that’s eye-popping but considering that they were (if you exclude their 14-6 win in Arizona on May 1) averaging less than half of that on the road this season, it is definitely a step in the right direction.

They also hadn’t scored a single run for Márquez in his four road starts in 2021. On Saturday, they scored three for him (all in the second inning) but Márquez couldn’t hold on to the lead and the Rockies couldn’t muster any more offense.

The Rockies have had their strength (their starting pitching) falter recently.

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In their last three games (all losses), the Rockies starters have a staggering ERA of 15.43 (14 IP, 24 ER).

• Chi Chi Gonzalez in Miami (5 IP, 8 R/ER)
• Kyle Freeland in Cincinnati (4 IP, 9 R/8 ER)
• Germán Márquez in Cincinnati (5 IP, 9 R/8 ER)

The problem for all three of them was pitch location. They had too many pitches in the middle of the plate and elevated (but not elevated enough). For both Freeland and Márquez, for those pitches that were in the middle of the plate, the Reds, who are the best hitting team in the National League and have two of the best hitters in the NL in Nick Castellanos and Jesse Winker, didn’t waste those opportunities.

Particularly for Márquez, though, manager Bud Black said postgame that they thought his pitch quality was better than the pitch location but neither were great.

“I think from pitch to pitch there wasn’t (the) consistency of location,” Black said. “With Germán, I think that the fastball had its normal velocity, but he wasn’t in his spots nearly as much as he needed (to). And the slider, I think was good at times, but wasn’t the frequency of the good one was not there.”

The Rockies will try to avoid the sweep on Sunday at 11 AM M.T. when they will have Antonio Senzatela on the mound. Tony Santillan, who will be making his MLB debut for the Reds, will oppose Senzatela. He is the Reds #9 prospect, per MLB.com. He made his Triple-A debut for the Reds in 2021 as well as he went 1-3 with a 2.51 ERA with Triple-A Louisville.