So far, Rockies tough team to figure out
WASHINGTON» What to make of the Rockies after Sunday’s strange and dramatic 6-5 victory that left them with a 9-8 record after taking three of four games at Nationals Park?
Perplexing, yet resilient? Maddening, yet full of possibility? Talented but underachieving? Barely treading water?
“We haven’t played our best baseball, but we have a winning record,” said second baseman DJ LeMahieu, who hit three homers in the series, including a solo shot in the eighth inning Sunday off Shawn Kelley to give the Rockies a 5-4 lead. “We’ve been playing well on the road (7-4). If we can have the record we have, with the way we’ve been playing? That’s a good team.”
Ian Desmond has certainly not played up to expectations. He’s batting .190 with a .200 on-base percentage, but he delivered one of the biggest hits of the young season Sunday, blasting a solo homer to center in the ninth inning off Sean Doolittle for the game-winner.
“After my last at-bat, I went to the outfield feeling like things were coming back,” said Desmond, who’d been in a horrible funk, batting 2-for-38 with 14 strikeouts before swatting the homer. “When the rain comes, the sun always comes after. I felt like good things were coming. And what a perfect moment for it to come back. Hopefully I can put the rest of that series behind me and move on from that last swing.”
With Nolan Arenado out of the lineup — he served the second of his five-game suspension Sunday — Colorado’s offense continues to lean heavily on LeMahieu and Charlie Blackmon, who hit his sixth homer of the season Sunday (all on the road), and who also drove in two more runs with a double.
“DJ and Charlie did such a good job in this series against some really good pitching, obviously you want the light to shine on them,” Desmond said. “They carried me and the team for three games.”
Manager Bud Black was quite aware that the Rockies walked 10 batters, gave up one run on a passed ball by catcher Chris Iannetta, another run on a throwing error by Iannetta on the same play, and still another run on a wild pitch by usually reliable reliever Adam Ottavino in the eighth. But at the end of a cold, raw day, the Rockies found a way.
“What a great game to win, we are excited about this one,” Black said.
But major issues remain as the Rockies open a three-game series at Pittsburgh on Monday, weather permitting.
Colorado’s starters are struggling to provide quality innings and its hitters are striking out at an alarming rate.
Left-hander Tyler Anderson lasted just 4M innings Sunday and walked six. His ERA is 4.74, a tick higher than the starters’ combined ERA of 4.34, which is third worst in the National League.
Regarding the walks given up by the Rockies, Black said: “I am going to say that is not going to happen again. For any team, for that matter. That’s not recommended.”
In fact, it was just the sixth time in franchise history in which the Rockies won a game in which they walked 10 or more batters. It marked the first time since May 15, 2012 at San Francisco.
All told, the Rockies fanned 44 times in the four games against the Nationals, and slumping shortstop Trevor Story struck out 10 times. For the season, Story is striking out 42 percent of the time (26 times in 62 at-bats) and is hitting .177.
“It’s a tough game and it’s tough to say that it’s one thing in particular,” Story said before Sunday’s game, in which he struck out four times. “I always have that belief in myself, and in my work, that it’s going to come around. I feel like I’m very close.”
Bottom line, the Rockies were an upbeat bunch as they packed their bags and headed to Pittsburgh.
“You come into Washington, facing their rotation, (and) if you come away with a split you’d feel pretty good about yourself,” Desmond said. “But to put up the wins we did, and the way we stayed in those games, without Nolan, to walk away with three of four, that’s a good feeling. Hopefully it give us some momentum going into the next series.”