Rockies-Padres Series Grades: Late heroics that could define the season

Those pesky Colorado Rockies love to make things interesting, and boy did they ever against the San Diego Padres, winning the series on the razor’s edge in walk-off fashion after losing the first game despite having several opportunities to come out victorious.

The win was massive for Colorado to stay in the tight NL West race producing some important performances in the 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.

Ian Desmond (94.80 — A+): Desi was huge in the final two games, getting a two-RBI triple, a walk, and a stolen base. His game three performance was even better with the series defining two-RBI walk-off jack, as he went two-for-two with runners in scoring position in those final two games.

His grade could’ve been even higher if not for three strikeouts in each game of the series.

DJ LeMahieu (52.80 — C-): LeMahieu had some ups and downs in the series. His game one outing was his only one with a positive WPA, getting two hits, one of which was an RBI-single. After that, DJ only had another single the rest of the series striking out twice.

Trevor Story (59.71 — C): Story, like just about every other offensive player in the series, had an up and down showing as his grade was significantly lowered by an abysmal game one in which he struck out once and grounded into a double play. His two other games were much better, going four of eight with two doubles and two stolen bases, scoring two runs. One of those runs was the tying run on Desi’s two-run blast that won the series.

Nolan Arenado (61.40 — C+): Arenado’s series started off on fire with an RBI double and a walk. He progressively slowed down from there, getting a single and walk in the next game, and finishing off with a sac-fly RBI while striking out three times in game three.

Charlie Blackmon (69.02 — B-): Blackmon hit consistently in the series getting five knocks in 13 ABs, scoring a run in each game. He managed one extra-base hit against the Padres with a triple in game one, adding two stolen bases after that. His grade isn’t higher due to four strikeouts and a grounder into a double play in game three—his worst outing of the series resulting in a negative WPA and failing DPR. 

David Dahl (60.29 — C+): Dahl alternated an amazing game three performance, going yard and getting a double to play a key role in the series win, to a poor game one in which he struck out twice and grounded into a double play. His grade averages out to a C+ but he was crucial in Colorado’s close win.

Carlos Gonzalez (42.81 — D): Gonzalez’s game one performance was lacking, going 0-for in four ABs. His game two appearance was better with an RBI single but overall he didn’t have a tremendous impact.

Gerardo Parra (34.93 — F): Parra was unable to do anything aside from striking out twice in the last two games. He did appear in game one getting a pinch-hit single which salvaged his grade some but generally had an underwhelming series.

Matt Holliday (33.05 — F): Holliday’s return to purple pinstripes wasn’t what you would’ve expected in a hitless performance in three ABs.

Chris Iannetta (73.82 — B): Iannetta has picked it up lately, starting the series off with a solo homer, adding a base knock in game three with a walk to boot. A solid outing.

Tony Wolters (95.44 — ⭐): Wolters only started game two where he had an RBI-triple, scoring on a wild pitch soon afterward and then added another RBI with a sac fly. A big contribution in the Rockies win to tie the series up.

Tyler Anderson (59.78 — C): Anderson keeps allowing homers, getting taken yard twice in game one against San Diego and allowing eight home runs in four starts during the month of August. That was his big issue in 6.1 innings where he was solid otherwise.

Anderson put up a nice stat line with eight Ks and zero walks while abusing the strike zone, throwing 74 of his 99 pitches for strikes. He did allow 10 hits for four runs and had an astonishing ground ball to fly ball ratio of 5-to-17, giving him a FIP of 4.74.

Jon Gray (75.07 — B+): Gray was the best starter of the bunch against the Padres with an efficient outing, throwing 89 pitches in 6.1 innings, allowing two runs. What made Gray standout was how he only walked one and allowed five hits. His strike percentage and FIP of 4.11 weren’t anything special, as his ground ball to fly ball ratio wasn’t anything special either—7-to-12.

Kyle Freeland (72.94 — B): Freeland was on top of his game in 6.1 innings as he allowed two runs, struck out seven, and only walked one. Freeland wasn’t flawless, conceding seven hits while giving up a homer to Hunter Renfroe. Though, his performance was crucial in game three to close out the series on the positive side.

Jake McGee (92.58 — A+): McGee was lights out in game three, going 1.2 innings and striking out two while also getting two ground ball outs in a scoreless outing. His WPA of .159 was really high for a reliever, while his FIP of 0.75 was off the charts. A great outing for the lefty who seems to be finding his groove lately.

Scott Oberg (86.50 — A): Getting called on in the first two games of the series, Oberg was incredibly reliable in 1.2 innings, getting a K and three groundball outs. He had no fear getting after batters with 18 strikes thrown out of 25 total pitches, resulting in two positive WPAs.  Oberg’s become a trustworthy reliever as he’s now one of the top-40 best relievers in the NL per DPR, and was key in getting the series win.

Seunghwan Oh (77.81 — B+): In twelve outings as a Rockie Oh has conceded seven hits, one of which came in game one of the Padres series, in a clean outing in which he walked one as well but got out of trouble with two Ks and two ground ball outs. His second outing was close to perfect in 0.2 innings gathering a strikeout and ground ball out while throwing six of seven pitches for strikes, for a FIP of 0.13.

Adam Ottavino (99.06 — ⭐): Otto was unbelievable in two innings in the series striking out five. His outing in game one was out of this world striking out the side despite getting in hitter-friendly counts, needing 18 pitches to get out of the inning. Game two wasn’t as dramatic or spectacular but just as efficient. Two outings that were vintage Ottavino as he’s now back into the top three relievers in the NL per DPR.

Chris Rusin (49.81 — D+): Rusin had a shaky ninth inning in game three, allowing some traffic but ultimately getting out of the jam by inducing a grounder into a double play. His 6.16 FIP hurt his grade significantly.

Bryan Shaw (20.01 — F): Shaw couldn’t get a single out in game three, allowing a two-run single after walking one. His WPA was -.401 and FIP came out to 12.25. Not good, as he was the only Colorado reliever to allow a run in the series.