The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Revisiting Coors Field leaves Brothers sick
A few mistakes are costly for former Rockies reliever.
DENVER — On Sunday, Rex Brothers was asked about the coming return to Coors Field, where he was once a successful Rockies closer, and what it took to be successful at the unique hitter-friendly ballpark with its mile-high altitude and vast outfield.
“That’s a place where you’ve really got to execute,” Brothers said. “And if not, you might see the touchdowns on the scoreboard . ... That outfield is so big, doubles turn into triples, singles turn into doubles. That’s what I call the merry-goround. Whenever you see the dang merry-goround take off, you know there’s probably been some instance in an inning where a single’s turned into a double, a double’s turned into a triple, those sorts of things. It just gets going and it feels like it doesn’t stop.
“It’s a big yard. You definitely want to keep the ball on the ground, keep it on the infield as best you can.”
Late Monday night, Brothers got his first chance to pitch at Coors Field since 2015, his first time as an opposing pitcher. He did not keep the ball on the ground. The first batter he faced, Charlie Blackmon, hit a leadoff triple to start the eighth inning, the game-changing inning when the Rockies scored three times to turn a scoreless game into a 3-0 Braves loss.
“When I had the count in my favor, I didn’t execute. It’s as simple as that,” said Brothers, who was ahead in the count and meant to throw Blackmon a slider low, but threw him a hanging pitch over the middle of the plate. “At this level, you see what happens.”
In Brothers’ impressive 2013 season, the best of his career, he had a 2.23 ERA, .654 opponents’ OPS and 10 saves in 38 home appearances. He didn’t give up a triple all season, home or road.
Blackmon, who ranks third in the majors in batting average (.335) and slugging percentage (.615), hit the pitch to the left-center gap for his majors-leading 14th triple, which is five more than anyone else in the majors.
Blackmon, a North Gwinnett High School graduate who played at Georgia Tech and Young Harris College, has the power, speed and hitting ability to thrive at Coors Field. He’s hitting .395 with an .814 slugging percentage and 1.279 OPS in 55 games at Coors Field compared with .285 with a .452 slugging percentage and .783 OPS in 61 road games.
A good hitter on the road, a formidable hitting machine at Coors Field. Blackmon is a leadoff hitter, but the only players who’ve hit more homers in their home ballparks this season are sluggers Aaron Judge (24), Giancarlo Stanton (21), Cody Bellinger (18) and Khris Davis (18).
Brothers knew Blackmon was dangerous, having been Rockies teammates with him from 201115. But Blackmon wasn’t nearly the hitter then that he is now. All pitchers who’ve worked at Coors Field know how dangerous it is to make mistakes in that ballpark. Those who’ve pitched for the Rockies are even more familiar.
But every pitcher also makes mistakes and those are more likely to be exploited at Coors Field. Especially when those mistakes are made to hitters like Blackmon or Carlos Gonzalez, who had a two-run single four batters later in the eighth inning off Jason Motte. Coincidentally he is another former Rockies pitcher.
All three runs in the inning were charged to Brothers, who faced two batters after Blackmon, walking D J LaMahieu intentionally to put runners on the corners before inducing a grounder from Gerardo Parra that skipped under the glove of shortstop Dansby Swanson. The play was initially ruled an error but later changed to a hit.