Colorado Rockies Face A Tough Road Trip Ahead Beginning In Los Angeles

Apr 23, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Rockies manager Walt Weiss (22) talks with bench coach Tom Runnells (11) in the eighth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field. The Giants won 12-10. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

After a pretty successful home stand, winning four out of six games against the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants, the Colorado Rockies hit the road beginning Friday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Colorado could have gone a perfect six-for-six on their home stand but the pitching would falter. In Sunday’s 10-9 loss to the Phillies, the bullpen couldn’t back-up starting pitcher Juan Nicasio. After Nicasio left the game, the score was 6-4 in favor of Colorado. After an inning of scoreless relief from Rex Brothers, Boone Logan would come in and give up three runs on three hits in just 1/3 of an inning. After the Rockies clawed back into it, Matt Belisle would come in to the eighth inning, having a hiccup of his own. The veteran reliever would give up two runs on three hits in his lone inning of work, raising his ERA all the way up to 6.00 even.

The same thing would happen in Colorado’s 12-10 loss to the San Francisco Giants Wednesday afternoon. Despite Tyler Chatwood‘s rough outing (6.0 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 SO, 3 HR), Colorado’s bullpen simply did not give them a chance to win. Rex Brothers would relieve Chatwood up 6-5 in the top of the seventh and ended up giving up a two-run shot to Brandon Belt to give the Giants the lead. Jumping ahead to the top of the eleventh, Chad Bettis dug himself into a hole. He would end up giving up a glad slam to Giants back-up catcher Hector Sanchez as the Giants avoided the sweep with a 12-10 win.

Colorado’s bullpen has to get better and quick as they approach two key series against division rivals. They begin a three-game set with the NL West leading and favorite, Los Angeles Dodgers Friday night. Colorado comes into the series leading the league in runs (126), batting average (.301), on-base percentage (.353), and slugging percentage (.482). Los Angeles’s pitching on the other hand has put them at the top of the division. They enter the three-game set sixth in the league in ERA (2.90) and sixth in WHIP (1.21). Mainly because of lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu who is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.12; picking up the slack with ace Clayton Kershaw on the disabled list.

After the three-game set with the Dodgers, Colorado will travel to the desert to take on the slumping Diamondbacks. Colorado took two out of three games from them earlier in the month but were shut down in the getaway game by lefty Wade Miley. Colorado will face Miley in the first-game of the series on Apr. 28th.

Another interesting thing to watch for is if Colorado’s bats will translate on the road, they absolutely tore it up in their six-game home stand.

News & Notes:

• Nolan Arenado went 1-for-6 Wednesday afternoon extending his hitting streak to 14 games.
• Prospect Jon Gray went six strong innings last night in Tulsa’s 1-0 loss. Gave up three hits, one run, one earned while striking out eight, lowering his ERA to 4.91.
• Jhoulys Chacin will be making a rehab start tonight for the Triple-A affiliate Colorado Springs Sky Sox as he will take on the Iowa Cubs. First-pitch is at 6:35 PM MT.