Colorado Rockies: 3 positives heading into the All-Star break

The Colorado Rockies enter Sunday’s series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 43-49 mark and 18.0 games behind the National League West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.

On the surface, there’s not a lot to like about those numbers. However, if you dig a little deeper, the Colorado Rockies are entering the All-Star break with a bit of momentum and hope about what the second half of the season might bring.

Some of that hope rides on the fact that the Rockies are just six games out of the final NL Wild Card slot plus, by securing series wins in their last three series, they have separated themselves from the Arizona Diamondbacks and the division cellar.

Here are three positives the Colorado Rockies can look to for hope as the All-Star break looms

First, the roster addition of starting pitcher José Ureña has been a boost

In his three starts with the Rockies so far this season, the 30-year-old right-hander has posted a 1.45 ERA in 18.2 innings of work. That includes six shutout innings at Coors Field on Saturday against the Pirates as the Rockies went on to post a 2-0 win.

Ureña came to the Rockies after being designated for assignment by the Milwaukee Brewers in early May. He only pitched out of the bullpen for the Brewers in four games earlier this season and was stretched back out to have enough of a pitch count to be a starter (something he did for seven seasons with the Miami Marlins and Detroit Tigers) once acquired by the Rockies.

“It was a little tough because you feel like you wasted a little bit of time,” Ureña said after Saturday’s win, referring to his time getting stretched out in the minors before getting called up by the Rockies. “But you have to keep your mind right and do the best you can when you get the opportunity.”

That opportunity has come with the Rockies and Urena is making the most of it. His next start is scheduled for Saturday … in Milwaukee against the Brewers.

Third, Colorado’s defense has shored up

Third baseman Ryan McMahon is the poster boy for just how the Rockies struggled so mightily in the field with their defense during the first two months of the season, but have turned things around in a big way as of late.

Overall this season, McMahon has 12 errors, tied for the second-most in all of baseball. It’s part of a team total of 59, which is the third-highest for any MLB team. McMahon had four errors while the team logged seven miscues in a four-game road sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies in late April.

However, take a look at the last few weeks and you will see how Colorado has morphed into a much better defensive squad.

Since a three-error game in Miami on June 21, the Rockies have just two errors in their last 24 games. That’s the fewest in MLB and also includes a 12-game errorless streak from June 25 through July 7, a stretch that tied for the second-longest streak of clean baseball in franchise history.

And McMahon? He has just four errors since May 17 while manning the hot corner, showing whatever was off early in the season has been corrected.

With one positive in each part of the game to build upon heading into the break, Black and the Rockies are optimistic about what is to come.

“We have to keep going, there’s a lot of baseball left,” Black said. “We have to hit, we have to pitch, we have to play defense. Right now, over the past couple of weeks, we’ve been doing that.”