Rockies-Diamondbacks Series Grades: Off the charts production in a huge divisional win

The Colorado Rockies took it to the Arizona Diamondbacks winning two out of three and getting back in the divisional race while massacring the D-backs in game two to the tune of 19 runs.

The offense wasn’t the only thing clicking either, as Colorado’s starters continued their solid run of form that’s got the Rox within 3 games of the NL West lead.

As we do after each series, using our advanced statistics and our-in-house all-encompassing metric DPR, here are our individual grades.

Note, the scores below are each player’s average DPR for the series, all Rockies stats can be found here.

Trevor Story (80.01 — A-): Story had a really nice series hitting consistently in each game. He added a stolen base in game two and hit a double in each of the first two outings. His game-three performance with a walk and a solo home run was the cherry on top. The only negative note to his series were the five strikeouts he had but he’s raised his batting average and overall DPR as of late playing some really good baseball.

Charlie Blackmon (90.20 — A+): Blackmon wasn’t as consistent as Story throughout the series but absolutely raked in the first two games. He was a major catalyst in the blowout win in game two with three hits and a walk, he added a two-RBI homer and another RBI while scoring four runs. Not a bad day of work. He had two hits, one of which was a double, in game one even if he struck out twice. His game three appearance was nothing special but a big series none the less.

As was to be expected, Charlie’s gotten back to hitting and has raised his DPR back into the MLB’s top 40.

DJ LeMahieu (101.35 — ⭐): DJ was great against Arizona especially in the Rockies two wins but was generally very consistent impacting the game each outing either by bringing in runs or scoring them himself. He scored five runs in the series, had six hits, stole a base and never struck out. A truly great performance.

Nolan Arenado (100.57 — ⭐): Unsurprisingly, Nolan wasn’t just going to stand by while the other big names in the lineup hit the D-backs to death. Arenado got Arizona with five hits in the series and three walks while also homering in game one. Even in his one outing below 100 per DPR (game three) he still had a double. After cooling off in the Mariners series Nolan was back to his high standards against the divisional foes.

Ian Desmond (109.83 — ⭐): Desi’s big DPR stems from a massive game two showing with a three-run jack and another two RBI. He had a nice game one with an RBI single and a walk. His game three outing wasn’t bad either walking once and getting himself a double while scoring a run. He also limited his strikeouts to only one in the series giving him the highest DPR of the series, making him the MVP.

Carlos Gonzalez (80.46 — A-): CarGo’s bat has started to come alive in the last couple series and he too had a big-time showing in game two. His six RBI multi-home run game was nice to see. His other two games were nothing special but a solid series with that big game two.

Noel Cuevas (46.84 — D+): After a clutch performance against Seattle in the last series, Cuevas only contributed two walks in six plate appearances in this one.

Chris Iannetta (45.83 — D+): Iannetta’s a bit unlucky having not played in the 19-run blowout in game two. He did start twice and managed two singles while also getting a walk and scoring a run while only striking out once. Nothing spectacular but not a terrible series as his DPR grade might suggest.

Gerardo Parra (42.26 — D+): Parra’s DPR was really low in the first two games but picked up in the final game with an RBI single and a run. His first two games weren’t very strong striking out three times and having a negative WPA in both.

Tony Wolters (74.15 — B): Wolters won’t stop hitting triples it seems as he had another in his game two start, adding a run and a walk.

Raimel Tapia (68.40 — B-): Tapia had an impact in only three ABs in the series. His pinch-hit RBI single in game three was particularly valuable.

German Marquez (73.38 — B): Marquez had his third quality start in a row with a nice six-inning outing in game two. He struck out eight and induced 12 ground ball outs. Of his last three starts, this was the only one in which he walked anyone (two on the day).

Maybe more impressive was Marquez’s offensive DPR which was an off the charts 114.76 as he homered and had a single raising his batting average to .324.

Kyle Freeland (70.55 — B): As our Drew Creasman put it this was a gutsy performance from Freeland who hasn’t necessarily had electric stuff his last two outings but has gotten the job done regardless. He allowed only one run in 5.1 innings off of six hits while only striking out four and having a 2-to-1 foul ball to ground ball ratio.

His strike percentage was high at 68 percent and his FIP was low despite all those fly balls. Freeland’s finding a level of maturity to his game managing to pull off great starts even when he’s not electric.

Tyler Anderson (74.05 — B): Anderson was good in six innings, striking out eight even if he was a bit erratic walking four and getting hit for a homer on the one run he allowed. His FIP was high at 4.66 and his great start wasn’t enough to win game one.

Jake McGee (-41.13 — F): McGee got the loss in a rough game one outing in which he couldn’t get a single out while getting knocked around for two hits (one of which a costly homer) while conceding three runs. It just wasn’t his day as his -0.481 WPA was sky high.

Scott Oberg (501.18 — C-): Oberg struggled in game one, giving up a solo home run and then another hit with a gigantic 16.16 FIP. His outing in game three was much better in 0.2 innings, striking out one and inducing a ground ball out while throwing 69-percent of his pitches for strikes. That evens out to a C-.

Chris Rusin (81.84 — A-): Rusin got the two outs he was tasked with in the game three win, even if he did so with two fly ball outs and throwing only half of his eight pitches for strikes. Rusin’s ERA’s now dipped under 6.00 for the first time since May 11th, while he hasn’t allowed a run since July 1st, slowly but surely getting back on track.

Adam Ottavino (53.78 — C-): Otto appeared in game one and game three allowing a hit in both and walking another batter. Meaning that his FIP figures were pretty high. He also only threw 38-percent of his pitches for strikes in game one. That’s why his DPR isn’t higher, but what matters is he threw two scoreless outings in 2.1 innings.

Wade Davis (89.95 — A): Davis came into game three and shut the D-backs down in the final inning throwing 70-percent of his pitches for strikes with a strikeout and a groundball out.

Yency Almonte (77.71 — B+): Almonte was asked to come into the game two blowout and throw two innings and did a nice job managing to shut down any hope Arizona had of getting back into the contest. The young righty allowed a hit but also got himself four ground ball outs in a quick 16 pitches of work.

Harrison Musgrave (77.88 — B+): Musgrave got an inning of work in game one and did a nice job despite walking one, getting two Ks and another ground ball out to exit unscathed.