Rockies-Braves Series Grades: Plenty of heroes in massive sweep

The Colorado Rockies pulled off a huge road sweep of the Atlanta Braves in four nail-bitingly close games, with meaningful contributions from everyone involved as there where clutch pinch-hits while the bullpen allowed only five runs the entire series.

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 and individual player profiles can be found here.

DJ Lemahieu (88.59 — A): Boy, did DJ come up clutch in this one with two unbelievable outings in games two and three while going yard in back-to-back outings to close out the series as well. He was also consistent, getting a hit in each game as he had a .350 batting average against Atlanta.

Of course, his best moment of the four games was his 416-foot go-ahead homer in the 10th inning of game three to seal the comeback victory for Colorado.

Trevor Story (84.41 — A-): Story made a meaningful contribution in each game with six hits and two walks, getting on base every game and scoring at least a run in all four outings. His best showing of the series was in game two, where he strung together three singles and a walk, scoring twice. With only one extra-base hit and four strikeouts, Story wasn’t dominant, he was just supremely consistent and a huge part of the Rockies coming away with the sweep, with a .375 batting average against the Braves.

Nolan Arenado (65.52 — B-): This was a high-level series from Arenado with six hits in 19 ABs and two RBI’s in the final two games. A bit surprisingly, Nolan didn’t have a single extra-base hit or walk in the series while striking out four times. A consistent outing without too many highs or lows.

Charlie Blackmon (66.03 — B-): Blackmon had a monster game two, falling a homer short of the cycle while scoring three runs and adding two RBIs. The rest of his series wasn’t anything spectacular, as he only had a single and a walk while striking out twice with a negative WPA in the final two games, but his game two outing is what really carried his grade here.

David Dahl (89.39 — A): Dahl was spectacular with three outstanding games rating above 90 per DPR, as he had two hits and an extra-base knock in each of those three outings. He added two walks with a stolen base and scored a run in those three games. His grade is brought down a bit by a 0-for game two in which he struck out twice, and in general by his six Ks in the series.

Ryan McMahon (60.89 — C+): Interestingly enough, McMahon only started once, in the final game of the series, but his biggest contribution came in game one on a pinch-hit RBI single that tied up the game giving the young infielder a WPA of .420. He had another single and scored a run in his one start, though he struck out twice, which lowered his rating.

Carlos Gonzalez (57.17 — C): CarGo had three hits on the series with an RBI pinch-hit single in game four and three walks. This has become his new normal as he’s no longer up and down but has found a lot of consistency to his game. His grade could’ve been even higher if not for a three-K performance in game three.

Ian Desmond (77.58 — B+): Similar to Blackmon, Desi’s grade is carried by a stellar game two performance in which he went off for three hits—one of which was a triple that looked like it could’ve been an inside-the-park home run—and five RBI’s on the day. He was solid in game three as well with a two-RBI double. His two other games weren’t great but he made some meaningful contributions with eight RBIs in three starts.

Gerardo Parra (69.14 — B-): Parra was yet another of the pinch-hit heroes in the series, as he came into game three with an RBI single and then stole a base as well, allowing the Rox to tie the game up. The rest of his series was solid, as he started in the bookend games and got on base in each.

Chris Iannetta (52.33 — C-): In one start and three relief appearances, Iannetta’s major contribution came in game two where he walked twice, adding an RBI single. He didn’t do much else in the series, striking out twice and grounding into a double play.

Tony Wolters (39.00 — D-): Getting the start behind the plate in games one, three, and four, Wolters did a nice job defensively, as those were the three low-scoring games for the Rockies pitchers. Problem is that’s not accounted for by DPR.

With his bat, Wolters only had one hit and a walk while striking out three times for two negative WPA scores.

Jon Gray (78.93 — B+): Gray started the series off with a monster outing, going seven innings on 94 pitches while striking out nine and only walking one. He did allow five hits, three of which scored, as the big righty conceded a solo homer, an RBI double and RBI single.

His DPR could’ve been even higher if his WPA wasn’t in the negative and his FIP didn’t come out to a 3.30. Still, this was a big-time start for Gray who’s now averaging an elite 79.84 since coming back in July, going seven innings or more in all but one start he’s had since getting called back up.

Kyle Freeland (79.57 — B+): Getting the start in game two, Freeland posted a quality start, striking out nine in six innings while allowing three hits and a run. He did walk four and his ground ball to fly ball ratio wasn’t perfect, much like his 60-percent strike percentage which was on the low side. That said, he was huge for the club lowering his ERA under three runs on the season and raising his DPR average on the year to 68.99, which is the 15th best by any starting pitcher in the NL.

Antonio Senzatela (62.62 — C+): Compared to Colorado’s other starters in the series Senzatela wasn’t great in five innings where, statistically speaking, he was far from impressive. Still, he battled for five innings, allowing two runs and forcing seven groundball outs while getting enough run support and help from the bullpen to scrape out the win. So while he only struck out one and had a strike percentage under 60-percent with a FIP of 3.96, and a WPA in the negative, he still pulled off a passing grade for eating enough innings to get the job done against the NL’s most prolific offense.

German Marquez (82.31 — A-): Marquez brought his A-game to close out the series, getting the win for Colorado in a seven-inning performance in which he allowed two runs. He might’ve only struck out five but walked just one, and was efficient pounding the strike zone on 93 pitches. His WPA of .219 was also quite high, as he’s now had four of his last five starts score above 80 per our metric.

Wade Davis (83.78 — A-): The Rockies needed Davis more than ever in this series and he stepped up in a huge way getting saves 33, 34, and 35 against the Braves. Davis was a model of consistency with identical WPA’s in his three outings, allowing two hits and striking out five. He simply got it done with an average FIP of -0.17. A monster performance.

Jake McGee (68.73 — B-): McGee wasn’t lights out in his two outings of the series, especially game two where he walked two, struck out one and got two fly ball outs, but at the end of the day he kept a clean scoresheet, which is all that matters. He allowed a hit in game three with two more fly ball outs and a forced grounder. His other stats weren’t eye-popping either, as his FIP’s of 7.16 and 3.16 weren’t exactly spectacular but he kept the Braves scoreless when he was on the mound. In a tight series, you can’t ask for much more.

Scott Oberg (70.12 — B): Getting called on in game three where Colorado had to go deep into its bullpen. Oberg did his thing, getting three groundball outs while allowing a hit. He did a nice job abusing the strike zone as all seven pitches he threw were strikes, inducing a huge double play as well after he led off the inning with an infield single.

Seunghwan Oh (83.36 — A-): Oh finally got a little rest appearing in just one game as he got the win in the first bout of the series. There wasn’t anything special about his outing as he induced two ground ball outs on 17 pitches to keep Atlanta off the scoresheet.

Adam Ottavino (80.41 — A-): Otto appeared in games three and four, striking out one in each and only walking one. His game three performance wasn’t lights out as he only threw 46-percent of his pitches for strikes—his third-lowest strike percentage of the season. He was much better in the final game with a FIP of 1.16.

Chris Rusin (1.68 — F): This was a tough outing for Rusin, appearing in game two and getting hit four times, walking one, and allowing three runs. With the game in hand, it ultimately didn’t hurt Colorado but this just wasn’t what you wanted to see from Rusin. He did throw 22 of 28 pitches for strikes.

Bryan Shaw (44.41 — D): In four games, the Rockies bullpen allowed five runs, three via Rusin, while the other two where on Shaw who allowed a run in both of his two appearances in the series. Not only that, but Shaw also allowed two hits in each outing. His saving grace was striking out three and inducing three groundball outs while limiting the damage in games two and three with an average FIP of 0.16 in the two outings.