People flock to Coors Field for… marquee pitching matchup

As if the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers wasn’t big enough for the Colorado Rockies, Saturday night’s pitching matchup is what baseball fans circle on their calendar.

Clayton Kershaw vs. Jon Gray.

Both teams aces will go toe-to-toe in what is expected to be a pitching duel. This is the time of year, granted it still does happen down the stretch, where the top pitchers from each club are guaranteed to square off.

These two, even though they probably won’t speak of it, know how important this game is and know exactly who they are going up against.

“I did not tell Jon. Jon knows who he’s going against.” Rockies skipper Bud Black said. “And you know what? Kershaw knows who he’s going against, too. And you’re right, this is a marquee match-up. These are great for baseball when these types of match-ups occur.”

As for the team, well, they know who’s taking the hill for the opposing team.

“As a team, we know who we’re pitching against, and we know who is pitching against us. So, it’s good stuff.” Black said. “There’s no secrets here. This guy [Kershaw] has been in this division a long time. We know what he’s gonns do. We’ve got a battle on our hands. It’ll be good. Our guys are ready for it.”

Kershaw, 29, has all of the accolades a pitcher dreams off. MVP, 6x All-Star, 3x Cy Young, 4x ERA Title, and the list goes on. He is coming off a strong Opening Day performance against the San Diego Padres, giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits while striking out eight over seven innings.

Gray, 25, looked dominant in his first three innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, but the wheels fell off late. The hard throwing right-hander lasted just four innings, giving up five runs on six hits while striking out seven. That’s a strikeout rate of 15.8 per nine if you were wondering.

Kershaw is 18-5 lifetime agains the Rockies, sporting a 3.08 ERA over 32 starts.

As for Gray, he’s 2-3 lifetime against the Dodgers, posting a 4.11 ERA over six starts.