Rockies-Braves Player Grades: A quiet offense lets down solid pitching

The Colorado Rockies had a clunker of an opening series at home, scoring just six runs overall and losing two of three contests to the Atlanta Braves.

The pitching was mostly solid apart from German Marquez’ rough outing in the Home Opener. When the backup catcher was the stand-out player from the series, it’s usually not a great sign.

Here are our individual player grades for the set:

Tony Wolters (A-) (Last Series: N/A): Two base hits in three at-bats, two walks—including a walk-off—and one tremendous defensive play were all pivotal in the Rockies lone win in the series. He also caught a fantastic game, calling a game in which the opponents only scored twice.

Trevor Story (B) (Last Series: D+) – The Rockies shortstop put together his best series at the plate so far in 2018, collecting four base hits (.333) and walking once in 13 plate appearances. He also made a few difficult plays look easy on defense.

Nolan Arenado (B) (Last Series: C-) – It’s really hard to hit .500 in a series and have it go almost entirely unnoticed. But that’s what Arenado just did, getting six hits in 12 at-bats—one thanks to an incredibly favorable bounce—but only recording one RBI. Some of that is out of his control but some of that is the grand total of zero extra-base hits for the man who prides himself on his run-producing ability.

Carlos Gonzalez (B-) (Last Series: D+) – CarGo hit a triple and a homer, accounting for two-thirds of the Rockies offense in the 8-3 loss on Friday. His double in the 10th inning on Saturday sparked the rally that ended with the Tony Wolters walk-off.

DJ LeMahieu (C-) (Last Series: A-) – DJ didn’t do much to put his stamp on the Braves series. He managed three base hits, one double, but did not score or drive in any runs. He made a few nice plays at second. 

Chris Iannetta (D+) (Last Series: D) – Iannetta smacked a pair of doubles and walked once in nine plate appearances. He hits two home runs in the first two games and was the only player who looked comfortable at the plate against Sean Newcomb.

Gerardo Parra (D) (Last Series: C+) – Parra collected two singles (.182) and one walk in 12 plate appearances. He made a great play in the 10th inning of the win but that was his only real positive contribution.

Charlie Blackmon (D-) (Last Series: A-) – It was a disastrous series for Blackmon who did not reach base once in nine plate appearances and experienced some back pain that took him out of the lineup for the final game.

Ian Desmond (F) (Last Series: B+) – Desi did not reach base in 12 plate appearances and hit into one backbreaking double play. He also struck out five times. He showed levels of comfort at first base that are likely to be the bigger story moving forward, but he could not have had a much worse series.

Chad Bettis B (Last Series: B-) – Bettis kept the hot Braves offense mostly in check over his 5.2 innings, allowing just one run on four hits. He walked two and struck out three, putting Colorado in position for their one win in the series.

Kyle Freeland B- (Last Series: C) – The young southpaw from Denver had another better-than-it-looked-in-the-box-score game that came down to a handful of mistake pitches. He gave up three runs on seven hits in six innings of work in his first start at Coors Field but was outdueled by Sean Newcomb.

German Marquez D- (Last Series: N/A): Marquez had an ugly Home Opener that wasn’t helped by the dreadful conditions. Pitching in the second coldest game in Rockies history, the Venezuelan went 4.2 innings and gave up seven runs on seven hits, walking six, though two were intentional.

Scott Oberg B+ (Last Series: D-): Oberg was the unsung hero in a thankless job for the Rockies in the Braves series, picking up three innings of work and allowing just a pair of hits and a walk, striking out two, and helping Bud Black keep his bullpen fresh for the long homestand.

Wade Davis C- (Last Series: B+): Not how the Rockies shiny new closer wanted to begin his Coors Field career, but it could have been much worse for Davis who blew the save but not the game in his only appearance.

Adam Ottavino B- (Last Series: A-) – Otto was hit hard twice and bailed out by Gerardo Parra and Trevor Story, but he has still not allowed a run this season.very at-bat, failing to notch a strikeout.