Jose Berrios dominates the Rockies to split the doubleheader

The Colorado Rockies offense fell flat in the second game of the doubleheader, getting thoroughly dominated by 22-year-old Jose Berrios, who gave up just two hits in an ultimate shutout. The Minnesota Twins salvaged the final game of the series with a 2-0 win.

Rockies starter Tyler Chatwood was incredibly wild and looked lost for much of the game but used his “veteraniness” to allow just two runs over five innings despite walking five twins. (No, that does not equal ten hitters.)

Chad Qualls, Scott Oberg, and Carlos Estevez did their jobs to keep the game at 2-0, but the Rockies offense just couldn’t get anything going, tallying just three total hits in the game. They struck out a combined 11 times.

With the loss, Colorado failed to collect their first series sweep of the season which has been an odd quirk of 2017. This is the second time they have had some positive momentum interrupted by a double-header, which are notoriously difficult to sweep, and though they remain in first place in both the National League and the NL West, they’ve yet to string together a long stretch of wins, instead just winning about two out of every three.

This is a club that has been defined by epic streaks. Of course, the run into the playoffs in 2007 was insane and their stretch of wins after firing Clint Hurdle and hiring Jim Tracy in 2009 was so good it ended up leading to the best record in franchise history.

This loss was frustrating for Colorado because they were never really in the game. It was the first time this season they’ve been completely dominated by superior pitching. (Though, Alex Wood of the Dodgers gets and honorable mention.) This is a new model for success for the Rockies. They aren’t relying on the club to get hot and ride it out. They aren’t rolling the dice and hoping for the best. Instead, they are slowly but surely winning almost every series they play on the backs of consistent efforts from just about everyone on the 25-man (and because of injuries, really the 29-man) roster to get the job done.

We will see how this continues as the Rockies head to Cincinnati to take on the Reds in a four-game set.